After newtest, NBC sets Trump town hall
NEW YORK — NBC News agreed to put President Donald Trump before voters in a town hall event on Thursday after the president submitted to an independent coronavirus test with the results reviewed by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The announcement Wednesday sets up dueling town halls withDemocratic opponent JoeBiden on a night the two candidates were supposed to meet for their second debate. Biden is appearing on a similar town hall event in Philadelphia, televised by ABC.
It also subjected NBC News to a sharp backlash on social media, where a call to boycott the network was a trending topic on Twitter.
NBC said Trump would be at least 12 feet from moderator Savannah Guthrie and the audience.
Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2 and spent three days at theWalter Reed military hospital, took a coronavirus test Tuesday administered by the National Institutes ofHealth, NBC said.
Both NIH clinical director Dr. Clifford Lane and Fauci reviewed Trump’s medical records and said they had a high degree of confidence that the president is “not shedding infectious virus.”
A formal matchup between the Republican president and Biden that was scheduled for Thursday in Miami by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debate was canceled. In light of the president’s infection, the commission shifted the format to a virtual meeting, and Trump declined to participate.
Both town halls will begin at 7 p.m., but Biden will have the last word. The ABC event, moderated by George Stephanopoulos, will last 90 minutes with an additional half hour of analysis. Trump’s town hall on NBC is scheduled for an hour.
Critics of NBC questioned why the network scheduled Trump for the same time, making viewers have to choose if theywere interested in seeing both candidates react live in a similar format.
NBC considered it important that Trump be given the same format, day of the week and length of time that Biden had lastweek — although he will have a different moderator.
Thursday’s Trump town hall on NBC will be held outdoors at the Perez Art Museum in Miami. Audience members will be socially distanced, required to wear a mask and submit to a temperature check before entering the venue, NBC said.