US debates: Muted microphones to give Donald Trump and Joe Biden uninterrupted speaking time

Trump at a rally in Arizona on Monday. He is annoyed at the choice of topics in Thursday's debate

Credit: AP

Both microphones will then be turned back on to allow for a back-and-forth debate.

Thursday’s debate will be moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker and held in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mr Trump and Mr Biden will face questions on coronavirus, families, racism, climate change, national security and their leadership, though the Trump campaign is unhappy with the choice of topics.

Read more: Donald Trump vs Joe Biden policies: what are their views on Covid-19, healthcare and the economy?

The manager of the Trump campaign wrote to the CPD on Monday to object to the topics, which were chosen by Ms Welker, claiming that the selection failed to honour a "long-standing custom" of debating foreign policy. Bill Stepien also claimed that the Trump and Biden campaigns agreed to foreign affairs being a key part of the third debate.

Mr Stepien said: "As is the long-standing custom, and as has been promised by the Commission on Presidential Debates, we had expected that foreign policy would be the central focus of the October 22 debate.

"We urge you to recalibrate the topics and return to subjects which had already been confirmed."

Mr Stepien claimed that the decision showed the CPD was biased in favour of Mr Biden, who he said was “desperate to avoid conversations about his own foreign policy record”.

“The Commission’s pro-Biden antics have turned the entire debate season into a fiasco and it is little wonder why the public has lost faith in its objectivity,” he said.

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