Trump, Biden to hold dueling town halls
Canceled presidential debate slot will nowhave two separate town halls.
NEW YORK — NBC News agreed to put President Donald Trump before voters in a town hall event 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 between the president and Democratic opponent Joe Biden 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 announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2 and spent three days at the Walter Reed National Miiltary Medical Center, took a coronavirus test Tuesday administered by the National Institutes of Health, 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.”
Trump’s ability to reach a national television audience Thursday was in part dependent on Fauci, who had expressed anger at the Trump campaign in recent days for using one of his statements in a campaign ad.
The coronavirus task force member said a quote used in the campaign ad was taken out of context.
A formal match-up 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 8 p.m. Eastern, but Biden will have the last word. The ABC event, moderated by George Stephanopoulos, will last 90 minutes with an additional halfhour 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 they were interested in seeing both candidates react live in a similar format.
Veteran journalist Jeff Greenfield called it “indefensible” in a Twitter post.
“They rewarded Trump by giving him this time,” Greenfield said.
He questioned whether NBC acceded to a demand by the president, but the network said in a statement that “the Trump campaign did not dictate or request the time slot nor express any preference.”
NBC considered it important that Trump be given the same format, day of theweek and length of time that Biden had last week — although he will have a different moderator. Lester Holt hosted the Biden event.
In addition to preventing viewers from getting a sideby-side comparison of the twomen, the dueling events will likely be seen by far fewer people.
The first debate between the twomen last month was watched by an estimated 73.1 million people, the Nielsen company said.
An estimated 6.7 million people saw Biden atan NBC News-sponsored town hall last week. Like the Trump eventon Thursday will be, it was simulcast on MSNBC, CNBC and streamed online.
Trump’s town hall with Stephanopoulos on Sept. 15 was seen by 3.8 million people, Nielsen said.
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.