Trump advisor gets testy with Fox News host over infanticide false claims and debate mics

Donald Trump’s campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski grew testy with Fox News’ anchor Shannon Bream on Sunday when he was questioned about the dispute over mics in the upcoming presidential debate and was corrected over his false claims about infanticide.

Following much back and forth, Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump have both finally agreed to a September 10 debate.

On Saturday, the Democratic candidate publicly called for Trump to agree that the mics be kept on at all times throughout the event.

“Donald Trump is surrendering to his advisors who won’t allow him to debate with a live microphone,” Harris said in a tweet on Saturday. “If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t. We are running for President of the United States. Let’s debate in a transparent way—with the microphones on the whole time.”

According to ABC News, Trump’s campaign has agreed to the following rules: no audience members; no opening statements; two minute closing statements; no props or pre written notes on stage; candidate microphones will be live only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, and muted when time belongs to another candidate, and candidates will not be able to ask questions of each other. Harris’ team has not yet agreed to the rules, the outlet reported.

On Fox News Sunday, Lewandowski hit out at Harris, saying that the parameters of the debate had been agreed back when President Joe Biden was still the Democratic party’s nominee – and that Harris, as the VP pick, was part of that.

Lewandowski said she knew of the debate rules ahead of time because they are the same for the vice presidential debate.

“After she has been coronated to be the presidential nominee for the Democrats, what she’s done is come back and said I don’t like that criteria anymore,” he claimed.

“I want to be seated so I can be the same height as Donald Trump,” he said.

Bream interjected, saying: “Okay, her team denies that.”

Lewandowski grew visibly frustrated and launched into a rant hitting out at Harris and her team.

“We’ve been part of the negotiation back and forth for many, many days here and I don’t understand why once again Kamala Harris and her team are changing what their positions have been,” he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Lewandowski also pushed the false claim that Democrats are in favor of abortion after a baby is born, also known as infanticide.

“Kamala Harris … has had a radical position on the issue of abortion,” Lewandowski said. “Many Democrats believe that you can have an abortion not only on up until the last week, but also in some cases after the baby’s been born.”

Bream fact checked Lewandowski on his statement.

“To be clear, in a number of states, there is abortion allowed through pregnancy. And that includes a measure that Governor Tim Walz signed in Minnesota,” she said.

“But Democrats say they absolutely disavow the idea of infanticide or of a baby that does survive an abortion somehow their life being taken at that point. We can continue that debate, because there are a number of states that do allow it through pregnancy. But I think everybody agrees infanticide is illegal and wrong.”

The Independent has emailed both the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.