--- title: Presidential Debate: Donald Trump Microphone Faulty description: The Commission on Presidential Debates said in a statement Friday that Republican nominee Donald Trump's microphone was faulty. canonical: https://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-30T19:00:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:48:58.737Z article:section: Politics og:title: Debate Commission: Trump's Audio Was Faulty og:description: It didn't affect the TV broadcast, however. og:url: https://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12214a1e287a43c9/6988a7bfcd1bba46787027d2/presidential-debate-donald-trump-interruptions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4931 og:image:height: 2774 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Face Off In First Presidential Debate At Hofstra University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Debate Commission: Trump's Audio Was Faulty twitter:description: It didn't affect the TV broadcast, however. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12214a1e287a43c9/6988a7bfcd1bba46787027d2/presidential-debate-donald-trump-interruptions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Debate Commission: Donald Trump's Audio Was Faulty Inside Hall > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=252b4fa3-c283-40e5-868a-4b6da67a6e4d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Trump-Clinton Debate: the Interruptions [Watch (HLS stream): The Trump-Clinton Debate: the Interruptions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TfOQAjNY.m3u8) (1:50)  _Published 2016-09-27. Throughout the 90-minute debate, Trump exercised all the subtle put-downs familiar to almost any woman who has sat in a business meeting with a dismissive man. He interrupted Hillary Clinton more than 50 times, according to some estimates._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 30, 2016 7:00 PM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 30, 2016 7:00 PM UTC The Commission on Presidential Debates said in a statement Friday that Republican nominee Donald Trump’s microphone was faulty during Monday night’s first presidential debate, affecting the audio in the hall—but not on the television broadcast. After the debate Trump remarked about the apparent issue with the microphone as he made his way through the spin room at Hofstra University. As his performance was panned in subsequent days, Trump repeated that his microphone was faulty. A TIME reporter was the designated pool reporter in the hall Monday night and observed that the audio volume as Trump spoke fluctuated, making him sound quieter on stage. Clinton’s microphone didn’t suffer the same issue. In a one-line statement, the commission said it was due to a microphone issue. “Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump’s audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall,” the statement said. Many commenters remarked on an apparent “sniffling” sound from Trump on the television broadcast. That was inaudible in the debate hall, where the microphone was an issue. But the issue didn’t impact how the vast majority of Americans watched the debate. Fewer than 2,000 people were in the hall—the tiniest fraction of the more than 81 million people who watched, on television and online and were unaffected by the apparent glitch. ## Transcript Actually that is - >> I will bring, excuse me. I will bring back jobs . >> I think a lot about what worked and how we can make it work again . >> Well, he approved NAFTA - >> We have 3 million new jobs, a balanced budget - >> Which is the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country . >> And incomes went up . >> No, no. You're telling the enemy everything you want to do . >> No we're not. No we're not - >> See you're telling the enemy everything you want to do . >> And I wrote about that In I wrote about- You called it the gold standard. Well, I hope I- You called it the gold standard of trade deals. You said it's the finest deal you've ever seen and- No, but when it was negotiated which I wrote about that it in my- So, is President Obama's fault? Is it President Obama's fault? Look before you even announced Look, there are different- Secretary is it President Obama's fault? But you have no plan. I do. Secretary you have no plan. In fact I have written a book about it. So for the next segment- Well look, can I just finish. I think I should. [ CROSSTALK ] You go to her website, then you take a look at her website. She's gonna raise taxes $ 1. 3 trillion. And there's nothing crazy. This is absolutely. About not letting companies bring their money back in to their country. So there is. You're wrong. You're wrong. No, I'm not. Murders are up. All right, you'll check. New York has done. You'll check. Donald supported the invasion of Iraq. Wrong. Wrong. Which has been proved, over and over again. Wrong. He actually advocates- What makes your- I did not support the war in Iraq. In 2002. That is is mainstream media nonsense put out by her- Question there, sense- Just, you, would you like to hear? Why is your, why is your judgment- I was against the war, wait a minute. I was against the way, - >> Any sense about this should be a concern . >> [ CROSSTALK ] Is getting a little bit old I must say, listen - >> It's a good one though, well described the problem . >> It's an accurate at all . >> Pregnancy as an inconvenience to employer? Who have said women don't deserve equal pay unless they do as good job as men . >> Secretary Clinton two minute please . >> Let's start the clock again Lester ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/"},"headline":"Debate Commission: Donald Trump's Audio Was Faulty Inside Hall","datePublished":"2016-09-30T19:00:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:48:58.737Z","description":"The Commission on Presidential Debates said in a statement Friday that Republican nominee Donald Trump's microphone was faulty.","url":"https://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/","keywords":["Debates","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12214a1e287a43c9/6988a7bfcd1bba46787027d2/presidential-debate-donald-trump-interruptions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt12214a1e287a43c9/6988a7bfcd1bba46787027d2/presidential-debate-donald-trump-interruptions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Face Off In First Presidential Debate At Hofstra University","caption":"Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Face Off In First Presidential Debate At Hofstra University","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4515148/debate-commission-donald-trumps-microphone-was-faulty/","name":"Debate Commission: Donald Trump's Audio Was Faulty Inside Hall"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Trump-Clinton Debate: the Interruptions","description":"Throughout the 90-minute debate, Trump exercised all the subtle put-downs familiar to almost any woman who has sat in a business meeting with a dismissive man. 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