President Trump will participate in an NBC News town hall meeting with voters in Miami Thursday night at 8 p.m. EDT, directly opposite one by former Vice President Joe Biden in Philadelphia with ABC News.
The competing town halls come on the night of the second scheduled presidential debate that was cancelled after Trump refused to go along with the commission changing the format from an in-person town hall with the candidates in Miami to a remote setting following Trump’s infection with the COVID-19 China coronavirus at the beginning of the month. Biden’s town hall is set for ninety minutes, while Trump’s is set for sixty minutes.
File image.
NBC said Trump had been cleared for the debate by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Earlier this week Fauci had loudly complained about a new Trump campaign ad featuring excerpt from an interview earlier this year of Fauci praising Trump’s response to the pandemic.
Excerpt:
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President Donald Trump will take part in an NBC News town hall event in Miami on Thursday, the network announced Wednesday, after Trump produced a Covid-19 test showing he is not contagious.
The town hall, moderated by “TODAY” anchor Savannah Guthrie, will take place on the same evening — and at the same time — that Joe Biden is doing his own town hall event in Philadelphia on ABC News at 8 p.m. ET.
…NBC News said it had received a statement from Dr. Clifford Lane, clinical director at the National Institutes of Health, indicating that he and Dr. Anthony Fauci had reviewed Trump’s recent medical data, including a molecular PCR test collected and analyzed by the NIH on Tuesday, and concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that the president was “not shedding infectious virus.”
Both Guthrie and the president will be at least 12 feet apart from each other and the audience…
End excerpt. Please read the complete NBC New report at this link.
In an interview Monday with the Daily Beast, Fauci said the Trump campaign was harassing him with the campaign ad:
The nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci demanded that the Trump campaign refrain from using him in future campaign ads, saying Monday that it would be “outrageous” and “terrible” if he was featured in another commercial and it could “come back to backfire” on Team Trump.
Asked by The Daily Beast if his comments were a thinly-veiled threat to leave his post if he ended up in a new campaign spot, Fauci replied: “Not a chance.”
“Not in my wildest freakin’ dreams,” he said, “did I ever think about quitting.”
From there, Fauci went on to explain what he meant by “backfire.”
“By doing this against my will they are, in effect, harassing me,” Fauci said. “Since campaign ads are about getting votes, their harassment of me might have the opposite effect of turning some voters off.”
Fauci told CNN the comment was taken out of context and that he wanted the ad taken down.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says “it’s really unfortunate and really disappointing” that the Trump campaign featured him in an ad touting the President’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He tells @jaketapper that he thinks the ad should be taken down. https://t.co/oDDlgwvCkE pic.twitter.com/JLTbTVhJ7o
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) October 12, 2020
Mark Levin, who did the interview with Fauci featured in the ad, says the clip was not taken out context.
Again, Fauci was NOT taken out of context! I did the damn interview! In fact, the entire interview is even more supportive of the president and his administration!https://t.co/nD65SjiXZR
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) October 13, 2020
