Awkward mic issues temporarily brought the first Democratic primary debate to a halt

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Chuck Todd

• Issues with a microphone plagued the first night of the first Democratic primary debate, hosted by NBC.
• The candidates apparently couldn't hear debate moderator Chuck Todd as he posed a question about gun violence.
• The moderators and candidates joked about it, then had to go to an unscheduled commercial break.
• President Donald Trump was quick to criticize NBC and MSNBC over the incident.
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The moderators of the first Democratic presidential primary debate experienced technical difficulties on Monday night with their microphones - and President Donald Trump was quick to blast NBC and MSNBC in response.

"@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate," Trump tweeted. "Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!"

The candidates apparently couldn't hear debate moderator Chuck Todd as he posed a question about gun violence. They looked visibly confused, with those technical issues prompting an unscheduled commercial break as the networks resolved the issue.

"We prepared for everything, but we did not prepare for this," moderator Rachel Maddow said.

The debate continued a few minutes later after the audio problem was resolved.