Biden, Trump to hold competing town halls Thursday
MIAMI (NewsNation Now) — President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will hold competing town halls on Thursday.
Trump is scheduled to participate in an NBC News town hall event in Miami, the network announced Wednesday. Biden is scheduled to participate in ABC News town hall in Philadelphia Thursday.
Second presidential debate canceled, third debate still planned
Trump’s hourlong town hall will be moderated by “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie and be held outdoors at the Pérez Art Museum.
Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2 and spent three days at the Walter Reed military hospital, took a coronavirus test Tuesday administered by the National Institutes of Health, NBC said.
Both NIH clinical director Dr. Clifford Lane and Dr. Anthony Fauci reviewed Trump’s medical records and said they had a high degree of confidence that the president is “not shedding infectious virus.”
Both town halls will begin at 8 p.m. ET. 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.
Thursday was originally the day the second presidential debate was scheduled to be held. The town hall-style Trump-Biden debate was officially canceled, a few days after Trump backed away when the sponsoring commission switched it from face-to-face to virtual following his COVID-19 diagnosis.
The third debate, scheduled for Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee, is still on.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.