Vice President Mike Pence has reportedly relented on the use of plexiglass screens at Wednesday’s debate in Salt Lake City.
Politico and the New York Times both reported Tuesday night that the Pence team made the concession during an evening meeting with the Commission on Presidential Debates and representatives of the campaign of his Democratic rival.
The demand to have both candidates and the moderator behind transparent screens had come from Sen. Kamala Harris as one of several responses to the COVID-19 outbreak at the White House.
Citing “three people familiar with the matter,” Politico reported that “the Pence team ultimately said that if the barriers made Harris feel safer, they would use them.”
But earlier Tuesday, Mr. Pence’s team refused to go along and said its man would debate without the barrier while Ms. Harris was free to do what she wanted, CNN reported, citing “a member of the debate commission.”
Pence aides had been saying publicly that they were skeptical of the request.
“We have yet to hear medical evidence what the plexiglass is for,” Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short told CNN.
The Plexiglas plan had been announced Monday evening.
The Harris campaign had said before the evening meeting that the issue of Mr. Pence and plexiglass would not be a deal killer for the candidate, but called it emblematic and dangerous anyway.
“Senator Harris will be at the debate, respecting the protections that the Cleveland Clinic has put in place to promote safety for all concerned,” spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. “If the Trump administration’s war on masks has now become a war on safety shields, that tells you everything you need to know about why their COVID response is a failure.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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