Trump and Biden to hold dueling town halls on rival networks in lieu of canceled second debate
by Mike Brest, Breaking News Reporter |
| October 14, 2020 08:43 AM
President Trump and Joe Biden have agreed to hold separate televised town hall events in lieu of the second presidential debate, which was canceled amid the president's COVID-19 diagnosis.
The president's town hall, which was announced on Wednesday morning, will take place on NBC News in Miami, Florida, and it will be moderated by Savannah Guthrie on Thursday night. Simultaneously, the former vice president will be on ABC News with George Stephanopoulos in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
One of the hurdles that the Trump campaign had to overcome to solidify the town hall on NBC News had to do with the president's health following his bout with the coronavirus. A press release from the network stated that Dr. Clifford Lane, the clinical director of the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Anthony Fauci reviewed the president's PCR test on Oct. 13 and concluded “with a high degree of confidence†that the president is “not shedding infectious virus.â€
The choice of network for the president's town hall is notable given it's not Fox News, his usual port of call for media appearances.
The presidential debate was canceled last week after the debate commission opted to change the town hall style debate to a virtual one, given Trump's coronavirus diagnosis. The president rebuffed the idea, saying he wasn't going to "waste my time" in a virtual debate, and his campaign accused the commission of switching the format to help the vice president.
The president's campaign then offered to push the debate event back a week, which would also result in delaying the third debate a week, but the Biden campaign refused that offer. Both campaigns accused their opponent of being at fault for the canceled debate.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-and-biden-to-hold-dueling-town-halls-on-rival-networks-in-lieu-of-canceled-second-debate
