--- 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: 2026-02-23T00:57:04.942Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Debate Commission: Donald Trump's Audio Was Faulty Inside Hall by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Sep 30, 2016 7:00 PM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) listens during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. The first of four debates for the 2016 Election, three Presidential and one Vice Presidential, is moderated by NBC's Lester Holt. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) speaks as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) listens during the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University on September 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. The first of four debates for the 2016 Election, three Presidential and one Vice Presidential, is moderated by NBC's Lester Holt. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)Pool—Getty Images 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. ```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":"2026-02-23T00:57:04.942Z","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 topic","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"}}]}] ```