Former President Donald Trump puts Sept. 10 debate into question, and JD Vance says the former president would veto a federal abortion ban if it is put on his desk.

Trump muses exiting September debate with Harris as campaigns spar over microphones

Former President Donald Trump, in a post on his social media platform on Sunday night, seemed to indicate that he may withdraw from an ABC News debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, scheduled for Sept. 10.

The post comes as a report from Politico says that the campaigns are at an impasse over microphones being muted during the debate.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump appeared to take umbrage with Sunday's "This Week" program, firing off a missive calling the network "ABC FAKE NEWS," attacking moderator Jonathan Karl (while misspelling his name) over what he called a "ridiculous and biased interview" with Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (whose performance he praised) and blasting the show's so-called "Panel of Trump Haters."

"And I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?" he added.

The missive from the Republican presidential candidate preceded the report Monday that Harris' campaign wants the microphones to stay on during the debate, a departure from when President Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate.

In a statement to Spectrum News, Harris campaign communications adviser Brian Fallon said that they have indicated to ABC and other networks hoping to host a possible debate in October "that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast."

"Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own," Fallon said. "We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button. The Vice President is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button."

While Trump agreed to the rules of the ABC debate against Biden ahead of the president's exit from the race, earlier this month he called for a debate hosted by Fox News with a "full arena audience."

When asked about if he was still going to participate in the debate at an event in Virginia on Monday, Trump said that "we're thinking about it" and accused Harris' campaign of trying to "change the rules," and said ABC "really should be shut out" of hosting debates.

"I'd much rather do it on NBC," he said. "I'd much rather do it on CBS. Frankly, I think CBS is very unfair, but the best of the group, and certainly I do it on Fox, I'd even do it on CNN. I thought CNN treated us very fairly the last time."

When asked about the microphones, he replied: "I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. I'd rather have it probably on, but the agreement was it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted."

The ABC News debate is set to be held in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, hosted by network anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir.

Vance claims Trump would veto a national abortion ban if Congress passed one

Ohio Sen. JD Vance claimed former President Donald Trump would veto a national abortion ban if one was sent to his desk by Congress in a second term.

“I think he would. He said that explicitly, that he would,” Vance said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Donald Trump, I think, has staked his position and made it very explicit. He wants this to be a state decision. States are going to make this determination themselves.”

Earlier this year, Trump said he would be open to a federal 15-week abortion ban, but has largely walked that back, saying he would defer to state governments to legislate abortion restrictions. In a 2018 speech to the anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, Trump called on the Senate to pass a House bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks. Prior to becoming Trump’s running mate, Vance said he would prefer a national abortion ban and argued the state-by-state approach wouldn’t work.

“Donald Trump wants to end this culture war over this particular topic,” Vance said on Sunday. “If California wants to have a different abortion policy from Ohio, then Ohio has to respect California, and California has to respect Ohio. Donald Trump's view is that we want the individual states and their individual cultures and their unique political sensibilities to make these decisions because we don't want to have a nonstop federal conflict over this issue.”

Democrats have frequently highlighted Trump’s boasts about appointing three of the conservative Supreme Court justices who ruled in the majority to overturn the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and he often claims the end of the constitutional right to abortion access was a desired outcome across the political spectrum. Harris’ campaign said on Sunday that Vance was “trying to gaslight America’s women.”

“American women are not stupid, and we are not going to trust the futures of our daughters and granddaughters to two men who have openly bragged about blocking access to abortion for women all across this country,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on “Meet the Press,” on Sunday after Vance’s interview. “Today, 30% of all women live in states that effectively ban abortion. Donald Trump and JD Vance in the White House? It won't be 30%, it will be 100%.”

Vance's comments come after Democrats spent night after night of their national convention in Chicago last week assailing Trump for his role in appointing the Supreme Court Justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion in the United States and paving the way for bans and restrictions across Republican-led states.

But efforts to try to neutralize an issue that Democrats hope will galvanize voters this fall also risk alienating parts of Trump's base opposed to abortion rights.

“God have mercy on this nation if this is now the position of what was the Pro-Life Party,” wrote Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in a post Sunday linking to a story on Vance’s comments.

While Trump has repeatedly boasted about his role in overturning Roe, he has, in recent days, pushed back on Democrats' warnings that he will go even further to restrict access if he wins a second term.

“My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights," he wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform, appropriating language used by abortion rights activists and the left.

His comments drew a wave of criticism from anti-abortion advocates, including the editor of the conservative National Review, which published an article titled “Trump’s Abandonment of Pro-Lifers Is Complete.”

Trump has not said how he plans to vote on an upcoming ballot measure on Florida’s six-week ban.