Trump forced to hold mic at rally as he threatens not to pay company over technical issues

President said he won’t – again – pay an audio contractor after string of faulty mics at rallies

Donald Trump was forced to use a hand-held microphone during his penultimate 2020 campaign rally, vowing he would not pay the company that wired the Wisconsin event.

As the president has blitzed from swing state to swing state over the last few weeks, he has had trouble with the microphone on the blue lectern at several stops. Democrats no doubt are hoping the audio snafus are an omen, even as Mr Trump predicted victory at every late-cycle stop.

And as he has when other microphones malfunctioned, the president early in the Kenosha rally promised he would not give the company that set up the audio one penny.

Notably, the lectern-mounted mic functioned flawlessly when Vice President Mike Pence addressed the same large crowd about 20 minutes earlier.

Because he was holding the microphone, the president boasted he was working “harder” at the second-to-last rally than the 15 that came before it in the last several days.

Mr Trump is off to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he ended his 2016 bid with a late-night rally.

He trails in both states by 6.6 percentage points and 4.8 points, respectively.