Joe Raedle / Pool via APModerator Chris Wallace guides the discussion between Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the third presidential debate at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Oct. 19, 2016. (Joe Raedle / Pool via AP)
Fox News host Chris Wallace has been chosen to host the first debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, and it should be interesting television.
To date Biden, unlike Trump, has refused to sit down for an interview with the veteran journalist, but now Wallace will have the opportunity to run the Democratic nominee through his paces.
The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Wednesday the moderators for four debates slated to take place over the next several weeks, Fox News reported.
The first will be on Sept. 29 in Cleveland moderated by Wallace, followed by the vice presidential debate between incumbent Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris on Oct. 7 in Salt Lake City.
USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page will moderate the match-up.
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The second presidential debate will take place on Oct. 15 in Miami, moderated by C-SPAN political editor Steve Scully.
NBC News anchor and White House correspondent Kristen Welker will moderate the final presidential debate on Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.
In July, Wallace called out Biden after the newsman’s lengthy “Fox News Sunday’ sitdown with Trump.
“In our interview last week with President Trump, he questioned whether his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, could handle a similar encounter,” Wallace said.
“This week, we asked the Biden campaign for an interview, and they said the former vice president was not available,” he went on.
“We’ll keep asking every week.”
Fox’s Chris Wallace: “In our interview last week with President Trump, he questioned whether his opponent Joe Biden could handle a similar encounter. Well, we asked the Biden campaign for an interview and they said the former VP was not available. We’ll keep asking every week.” pic.twitter.com/5BIbp6dQ02
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) July 26, 2020
Wallace is no friend of Trump, so for the president to sit down for the grilling on a variety of subjects shows the kind of moxie and mental agility we want to see in our commander in chief.
The majority of Biden’s media appearances over the last several months have been set-piece speeches delivered from a teleprompter, during which he has still made some surprising gaffes.
What does this mean?
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 31, 2020
To the extent the former vice president has taken any questions from the media, it has largely been on friendly outlets, with very limited time and scope.
Do you think Wallace will ask Biden tough questions?
The Trump campaign voiced some frustration with the moderator choices on Wednesday, but looks ready to roll with them.
“These are not the moderators we would have recommended if the campaign had been allowed to have any input. Some can be identified as clear opponents of President Trump, meaning Joe Biden will actually have a teammate on stage most of the time to help him excuse the radical, leftist agenda he is carrying,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Welker would seem to fit that category; certainly NBC does.
My latest on @TODAYshow https://t.co/2gZ6cPbR5P
— Kristen Welker (@kwelkernbc) August 10, 2020
Wallace is an old-school journalist who has shown a penchant for sticking it to Trump, but he does have enough integrity to not let Biden off the hook.
This should make for some good, informative television.
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