Debate commission co-chair defends muting mics: "It's not a new rule"

Mediaite

"The campaigns agreed early on, going back to June of this year when we announced what the formats were going to be for the… debates," Commission on Presidential Debates co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf said on Fox News Radio today. "And they both agreed to live with it. It provides, very clearly, that the first four minutes on each of the six segments — each candidate gets to speak for two minutes without interruption. So that’s the rule. And that’s been the rule.” Brian Kilmeade responded: “But you’ve never killed audio." Fahrenkopf said both candidates “violated that rule” at the last debate, and added, “We’re not changing a rule. All we’re doing is saying you’ve already agreed to no interruptions for that two minutes on each of the six segments, and therefore when someone starts speaking, gets their two minutes, the other microphone is gonna be turned off until the two minutes are up, then the other person gets ii. That’s it.”