As to the light, I take it both podiums had them and Trump just didn’t use his, so it didn’t power off when they turned the podiums off.
And I agree. In whatever format, Clinton also had some kind of cheat notes that she was using from the podium—and her team were careful to set up and remove to hide as evidence. I am not certain whether she had some sort of wiring as well, since she was so robotic in her answers, though not as much showing the phrase by phrase pauses where she was clearly being fed lines through the foreign affairs forum.
May I ask where you learned that Trump’s podium had a light? I read that it didn’t. Also, this is the first I’ve heard of the podiums “turning off.” Do you recall where you saw that phrase?
I posted a video a couple days after the first debate showing her light powered on before the debate began. His didn't. At the end, hers powered off. The light was controlled by someone away from the podium.