Held in Miami at 8 p.m., the event will compete with ABC Town Hall, featuring Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Trump and Biden were originally scheduled to attend the second presidential debate on Thursday night, but the event was eventually canceled after Trump objected to the virtual format announced by the commission on presidential debates in light of Trump’s positive coronavirus diagnosis.
“The program is scheduled to be held out-of-town and is in line with all government regulations, according to guidelines set by health officials,” Hoba Cotbe said Wednesday on NBC’s “Today.
Clifford Lane, director of the National Institutes of Health Clinical, told NBC News in a statement that he had “concluded with high confidence” through a PCR test analysis that Trump “does not release the infectious virus.”
The program will be conducted by Savannah Guthrie, who will sit 12 feet from the President. Attendees will be required to wear a face mask.
Biden and ABC announced their plans to hold a townhall quickly following Trump’s decision to withdraw from another debate last week, and shortly afterwards Trump’s team spoke with NBC about a situation where Trump tested negative for coronavirus.
Trump is down in all national polls and is tied behind or with Biden in key swing states, and he needs more of a national platform in which he can make his case to voters less than three weeks before election day.
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