NBC was embarrassed on Wednesday night when the network needed to go to commercial break after the moderators of the Democratic debate in Miami were caught talking on a hot mic while backstage as the candidates were left speechless on stage.
As the debate entered its second hour, NBC News relieved its first team of moderators – Savannah Guthrie, Jose Diaz-Balart, and Lester Holt.
The second half of the debate is being moderated by Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow.
As Todd and Maddow began the second hour, audio of the first three moderators was clearly heard over the speakers in the hall.
Todd began asking a question about gun control, but he was drowned out by his colleagues backstage.
An awkward moment occurred during the first night of the Democratic debate in Miami on Wednesday when NBC moderators back stage were caught on a hot mic
The moderators of the second half of the debate, Rachel Maddow (left) and Chuck Todd (right), react as audio from backstage is heard on the speaker system in the hall
The three moderators of the first half of the debate are seen from left to right: Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie, and Jose Diaz-Balart. Guthrie was heard on the hot mic looking for her binder
President Trump was happy to make hay of NBC’s error. ‘NBC News and MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate,’ the president tweeted
Guthrie was heard saying that she was looking for a binder, prompting Todd, Maddow, and a few of the candidates to laugh.
‘What’s happening?’ Maddow says.
‘We are hearing our colleagues on audio,’ Todd says.
‘If the control room can turn off the mikes of our previous moderators…’
Maddow chimes in: ‘We’ve prepared for everything. We did not prepare for this.’
Todd then sends the broadcast to a commercial break so that the network can correct the technical snafu.
President Trump was happy to make hay of NBC’s error.
‘NBC News and MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate,’ the president tweeted.
Todd (left) and Maddow (right) speak to the audience during a commercial break that they took as a result of the technical malfunction
During the commercial break, Todd reportedly told the audience: ‘Nobody gets fired. The internet’s been firing me for awhile.’
‘Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!’
Stephanie Ruhle, an MSNBC host, came to the defense of her network colleagues and slammed Trump, tweeting: ‘To put things in perspective, in terms of difficulties…is it worse than a hot mic catching a casual convo about sexual assault?’
Ruhle was referring to the infamous Access Hollywood interview from 2005.
In October 2016, just weeks before the election, The Washington Post published a clip of a hot mic conversation between Trump and then-correspondent Billy Bush.
Trump is heard bragging to Bush that he gropes women by their genitals.
Ruhle quickly deleted the tweet on Wednesday after posting it.
In an earlier tweet, Trump dismissed the first Democratic debate as ‘BORING’ on Wednesday night as he flew off to Japan, predicting that the 10 rivals on stage seeking to toss him from office in the 2020 election would do poorly.
During the commercial break, Todd reportedly told the audience: ‘Nobody gets fired. The internet’s been firing me for awhile.’
The debate began at about the same time that Air Force One, carrying Trump and his entourage to Japan, stopped to refuel at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.
Stephanie Ruhle, an MSNBC host, came to the defense of her network colleagues and slammed Trump
‘To put things in perspective, in terms of difficulties…is it worse than a hot mic catching a casual convo about sexual assault?’ Ruhle tweeted
‘There’s a big debate going on; it just started,’ Trump told U.S. troops at the base during the refuel.
‘I had my choice between you and them, and I chose you.’
Asked by a reporter how he thought the Democrats would do during the debate, Trump said, ‘I think they’re all going to do very poorly.’
Once he got back on the plane, he fired off a one-word tweet: ‘BORING.’
Trump, a Republican, had suggested earlier in Washington that he might offer some tweeted responses to what he hears from the 10 Democratic presidential candidates on the stage in the first of back-to-back debate nights in Miami.
‘Well, I’ll be on a plane,’ Trump said on Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria.
‘Yes everyone said I’ll be tweeting. I’ll actually be on a plane and it just seems very boring, but I’m going to watch it because I have to.’