To mute or not to mute? The ongoing dispute over the rules for the Trump-Harris debate.

Former President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has reached an agreement to participate in the upcoming presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris. The debate will be hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis.

There has been much back and forth over the debate, the first in which Trump and Harris have faced off since launching their campaigns last month. Trump had originally said he did not want to participate in a debate moderated by ABC News, calling the network “by far the meanest and most unfair anchor in the business,” even though his campaign team agreed to the date and network in May.

However, a major point of contention between the two campaign teams was whether candidates' microphones should be muted when it was not their turn to speak, as was the case during the CNN debate between President Biden and Trump.

What rules apply to the debate on September 10?

Although ABC News has not yet officially released its rules for the debate, Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday that they would be “the same as the last CNN debate” between him and President Biden on June 27.

These rules included that no studio audience was allowed, no props or pre-written notes were allowed on stage, no questions could be asked in advance, and no campaign staff could interact with the candidates during commercial breaks. Candidates' places on the podium were determined by a coin toss.

However, neither ABC News nor the Harris team have publicly confirmed these rules.

What both campaigns said about the mute button

Brian Fallon, senior adviser to Harris' campaign, said in a statement to Politico on Monday that “both candidates' microphones should be on throughout the broadcast.”

Politico also reported that sources said the mute button was a point of contention between the two candidates. Fallon claimed the Harris team was fighting to keep the microphones on throughout the debate, which would violate rules set by CNN. Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, told Politico, “We accepted the ABC debate under exactly the same conditions as the CNN debate,” contradicting Fallon's statement.

At a campaign rally in Virginia on Monday, Trump echoed Miller's statement, telling reporters, “The agreement was that it would be like that” as per CNN debate rules. Trump addressed the issue of the muted microphone, adding, “I don't care, I probably would rather have it on.”

Later that day, Trump reiterated Miller's argument in a post for Truth Social, accusing Harris of trying to “change the rules of debate.”

The Harris team told the New York Times and NBC News on Tuesday evening that the microphone situation was still under discussion.

The Democratic presidential campaign team appears to have changed its stance on microphone rules after Biden appeared during the CNN debate in June and decided to drop out of the race, leaving the ticket to Harris. In May, the Biden team said it would only accept an invitation to a debate with Trump if muting the microphone was a rule.

Will there be further debates before the election on November 5?

The Harris campaign announced on August 15 that both campaigns had agreed to three debates before Election Day – two for Harris against Trump and one for vice presidential candidates Governor Tim Walz and Senator JD Vance.

A date for the second presidential debate has not yet been set, but it is expected to be moderated by NBC News. The vice presidential debate will be moderated by CBS News on October 1.

In a Truth Social post from early August, Trump claimed he was withdrawing from the ABC News debate and instead proposing a debate hosted by Fox News on September 4. Fox News had originally proposed the idea in July, but with a September 17 date.

Trump argued that since the ABC debate was scheduled to be against Biden, who dropped out in late July, it should be “canceled.” He added that moderating it would be a “conflict of interest” since he is suing ABC News' George Stephanopoulos for defamation.

Less than a week later, Trump told reporters at a press conference that there were now three different presidential debates, including the one on Fox News on September 4.

The Harris campaign responded that Harris would participate in two presidential debates. In an August 19 post, Trump announced, “Harris just informed us that she will not participate in the Fox News debate.”

At this point, the September 10 presidential debate and the October 1 vice presidential debate are the only ones to which both campaigns have committed.