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The Commission on Presidential Debates says it will change the debate format after Trump’s frequent interruptions. The Commission on Presidential Debates says there will be new limits on speaking times, however, no decision yet on cutting off microphones.
(about 1 hour later)
The Commission on Presidential Debates said on Wednesday that it would make changes to the format of this year’s remaining matchups in the wake of Tuesday night’s melee in Cleveland, where frequent interruptions from President Trump led to a chaotic and often incoherent event, though it did not elaborate on what those changes would entail. The Commission on Presidential Debates said on Wednesday that it would adjust the format of this year’s remaining matchups in the wake of Tuesday night’s melee in Cleveland, where frequent interruptions from President Trump led to a chaotic and often incoherent event.
“Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” the commission, a bipartisan nonprofit that has organized the debates since 1987, said in a statement. “The C.P.D. will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.” Several changes are under consideration, including new limits on speaking times that would replace an open discussion portion of the debate where candidates have traditionally been encouraged to freely engage, according to two people with knowledge of the commission’s discussions on Wednesday.
Members of the commission praised Tuesday’s moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News, “for the professionalism and skill” he brought to the occasion. The commission said it “intends to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.” Currently, candidates are granted two minutes apiece to answer a moderator’s question before being allowed to respond directly to one another — ground rules that Mr. Trump routinely flouted on Tuesday.
Although the commission did not go into detail about the changes it was considering, there were widespread calls on Wednesday for moderators to be granted the power to cut off a candidate’s microphone. Members of the commission, a bipartisan nonprofit that has organized the debates since 1987, were frustrated by the way Tuesday’s event played out, as Mr. Trump interrupted both his Democratic opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News.
Mr. Wallace did not have that ability on Tuesday night, when Mr. Trump repeatedly flouted the agreed-upon ground rules that each candidate would have two minutes to answer a moderator’s query before his opponent could respond. The commission is also weighing whether to grant moderators the power to shut off a candidate’s microphone to help restore order, the people said, although both cautioned that those discussions were in a preliminary phase.
Kate Bedingfield, a Biden deputy campaign manager, said Wednesday that Mr. Biden was looking forward to the next debate, a town-hall style encounter that will be held in Miami, and that he would “be focused on answering questions from the voters there, under whatever set of rules the commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump’s behavior.” Cutting off a microphone, although widely prescribed on social media as a remedy to Tuesday’s problems, can be complex from a television production standpoint and may not prevent a candidate from continuing to speak in the debate hall.
“The president will have to choose between responding to voters about questions for which he has offered no answers in this campaign — or repeating last night’s unhinged meltdown,” she said. Another option under consideration is to penalize an interrupting candidate by forcing him to yield more time back to his opponent, the people said.
Soon afterward Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement that “President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs.” A spokeswoman for the debate commission declined to comment on Wednesday.
“They shouldn’t be moving the goal posts and changing the rules in the middle of the game,” he said. “Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” the organization wrote in a formal statement, which did not elaborate on the specific changes its members had in mind. “The C.P.D. will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”
The statement also praised Mr. Wallace, who received some tough criticisms online, “for the professionalism and skill” he brought to Tuesday’s debate. The commission said it “intends to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.”
Ground rules for the debates are set by the commission, but the candidates’ campaigns often litigate many of the details before agreeing to participate.
The next debate, to be moderated by Steve Scully of C-SPAN, will be a town-hall format where Florida voters are allowed to ask many of the questions.
The third debate, with Kristen Welker of NBC News as moderator, will resume the format Mr. Wallace contended with on Tuesday night.
Kate Bedingfield, a Biden deputy campaign manager, said on Wednesday that Mr. Biden was looking forward to the town-hall debate and that he would “be focused on answering questions from the voters there, under whatever set of rules the commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump’s behavior.”
Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, also issued a statement on Wednesday about the commission’s plan to change its rules, saying, “President Trump was the dominant force and now Joe Biden is trying to work the refs.”
“They shouldn’t be moving the goal posts and changing the rules in the middle of the game,” Mr. Murtaugh said.