Editor’s note: An official with the Presidential Commission on Debates confirmed to The Daily Caller that moderators will be allowed to wear earpieces to coordinate timing and logistics with the executive producer during the debates.
Moderators have been banned from wearing earpieces during the upcoming presidential debates, Page Six reported over the weekend, but an official with the Presidential Commission on Debates tells TheDC that isn’t the case.
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In a memo sent to new organizations this week, The Commission on Presidential Debates said Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper and Chris Wallace would not be allowed to wear earpieces while moderating the debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Page Six reported Saturday.
Speaking on background, a commission official told TheDC that moderators will be permitted to have earpieces so they can communicate with the executive producer about timing and logistics.
The announcement comes just one week after Matt Lauer was criticized for the questions he asked Clinton during the Commander-in-Chief forum in New York City — when he was wearing an earpiece. (RELATED: Matt Lauer Will Moderate The First Forum Between Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton)
(Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, Trump said he thought Lauer did “a fantastic job.”
“I thought Matt Lauer did a fantastic job,” Trump said. “And they’re trying to game the system by saying Trump won the debate because Matt Lauer wasn’t as tough on Trump as he was on Hillary Clinton.”
(Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Clinton sent out a fundraising email the day after the forum attacking Lauer for not fact-checking Trump. (RELATED: Hillary Clinton Is Now Fundraising By Attacking Matt Lauer)
“Not only did the moderator, Matt Lauer, fail to fact-check Trump — he then kept the conversation moving,” the email read. “The worst part is, there’s nothing new about this happening.”
“We all know that Trump lies a lot. And we all know that many outlets in the press apparently lack the wherewithall to call him out — and help voters understand that what they’re hearing from Trump isn’t normal political talk, but an unprecedented descent into unqualified nonsense from a major-party presidential nominee.” (RELATED: Here’s Who Will Be Moderating Each Of The Presidential Debates This Fall)