Donald Trump speaks during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University. (Getty)
The Commission on Presidential Debates said on Friday that Donald Trump’s microphone was indeed defective during the first presidential debate.
The non-partisan commission released a one sentence statement on its website on Friday addressing the issue that was raised by the Republican nominee for president. Their statement read, “Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump’s audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall.”
It seems this issue only affected the audio heard by those in attendance at Hofstra University, though, not the audio that was broadcast to television viewers. Therefore, this would not have made much of a difference in the overall perception of Trump’s debate performance.
But Trump did originally say that the microphone only did not work within the room itself, and so his original complaint was legitimate (although there is no evidence the faulty microphone was given to him on purpose).
“And they also gave me a defective mic, did you notice that? My mic was defective within the room,” Trump said after the debate. “I wonder. Was that on purpose? But I had a mic that wasn’t working properly.”
Hillary Clinton later mocked Trump for this statement.
“Anybody who complains about the microphone is not having a good night,” Clinton told reporters on Tuesday.
The issue of the microphone was the first complaint Donald Trump made after the debate regarding how things were run. He has not brought up the audio issues since, in recent days complaining instead about moderator Lester Holt’s questions.