Treene’s reporting included that Trump’s team recognizes the need for “a” debate — not necessarily that specific one:
JOHN BERMAN: The scheduled debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is supposed to be exactly two weeks from today. We say supposed to, because Trump seems to be injecting new doubt into whether it will happen at all. Listen to the if not when.
DONALD TRUMP: I shouldn’t say this because if there’s a debate, it would be nice to surprise it with that one.
JOHN BERMAN: “If” he said. So this is how the Harris campaign is responding to the doubt this morning.
VIDEO CLIP: Why not debate her?
We’ll wait. Because they already know everything. So it’s oh Trump’s, you know, not doing the debate, same thing they say now.
CHICKENS: (CHICKENS CLUCKING).
So now, I mean, right now, I say, why should I do a debate? I’m leading in the polls.
JOHN BERMAN: The sound effects added by the Harris team.
CNN’s Alayna Treene is here with the latest Alaina. So what is the Trump campaign saying about all this this morning?
ALAYNA TREENE: Well, look, it’s obviously right now this whole question of will they or won’t they debate?
I will say from my conversations with Donald Trump’s team, they recognize that they need to have a debate before the election. The question is really about the rules. And I know this is such a process question and that, you know, it sounds like we’re getting in the weeds a bit, which we are.
It’s the question of whether or not microphones will be on for the entire length of the debate, or shut off for when a certain, when a candidate is finished speaking. But I think the key thing to take away from this discussion and this debate over the debate, John, is that it shows how important both campaigns view this debate. They recognize it could be a defining moment ahead of the election, just like it was in June for President Joe Biden. And so they want to do whatever they can to have their candidate get an edge.
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