Moderator Chris Wallace Details Debate Safety Procedures After Trump Tests Positive for COVID-19

In wake of the news that President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19, Fox News host Chris Wallace appeared on Fox & Friends Friday morning to go behind the scenes of this week’s first presidential debate.

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The Fox News Sunday anchor, who moderated Tuesday’s chaotic showdown between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, told hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade that what viewers saw on television was the closest that he got to the president. “It’s got to have been 10, 12 feet. He never approached me at the end of the debate,” he said. Adding, “Vice President Biden did, briefly, I’m trying to remember the exact words, to say basically, ‘I bet you didn’t know you signed up for this.’ Obviously it was an extremely contentious debate.”

Wallace did point out, however, that all three of the men on the stage are 70-plus and in the “high-risk factor” for the virus. “I’m gonna have to get a test because although I think I was far enough away, we all take that question: ‘Were you exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID?’ The answer is, ‘Yes.’” (Biden later revealed he and wife Jill tested negative.)

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Providing background of the pandemic-era procedures that were put in place in order to carry out the primetime ABC debate, Wallace explained that every person in the debate hall had, upon arrival in Cleveland, been nasal swab tested for the virus by the Cleveland Clinic and had tested negative. According to the rules, everyone in the hall had to wear a mask during the debate with the exception of Trump, Biden and Wallace. Wallace, however, said that while Biden’s family and her guests kept their masks on throughout the debate, Melania Trump took off her mask once she sat down, a move that was followed by the first family in attendance.

“I’m told by the pool of reporters there that somebody from the Cleveland Clinic came up to the first family, I believe this is before Mrs. Trump sat down, and offered them masks in case they didn’t have them and they waved them away,” said Wallace. Wallace added that many mask-wearing people in attendance, which included his own wife and four children, noticed that the first family did not wear masks during the debate. He cited how Melania Trump was not wearing her mask when she approached the stage at the end of the night, while Jill Biden was wearing her mask.

“There was no sign during the debate of any problems with the president in terms of his health,” Wallace clarified. “But it is worth noting that different people treated the safety rules in the hall differently.”

Kilmeade responded, “If it wasn’t clear by now, it should be clear that no matter who you are, whether you are Tom Hanks or the Rock or Boris Johnson, you could get this. It doesn’t matter how famous, rich or powerful.”

As of Friday morning, the White House said Trump is experiencing mild symptoms and expected to continue to carry out his duties “without disruption” while recovering.

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As for how Trump’s diagnosis could impact the country and the campaign, Wallace said, “Our primary concern is for the health and safety of the president. Our second concern, obviously, is he is the president. For the health and safety of the country — no reason to believe that there is any danger —but he is the commander-in-chief. If he does begin to get symptoms, that has national security implications.”

The next presidential debate is slated to take place on Oct. 15, which is less than two weeks away from Trump’s diagnosis, and is set to be in the form of a town hall. While it’s unclear if the debate will go on, either way, Trump won’t be able to be out on the campaign trail while under isolation and quarantine. The vice presidential debate, it was announced on Friday afternoon, is set to go on as planned on Oct. 7, with both Mike Pence and Kamala Harris testing negative.

“Clearly this is going to put COVID back at the top of the agenda and this will raise questions again about whether the president has been serious enough in the way he has treated COVID now that he has caught it himself. That may be fair or unfair, but it’s a political fact of life,” said Wallace, who added that a possible change after this week’s messy debate would be the addition of a mute button for the moderator.

“That’s going to get played a lot today,” said Wallace. “It will speak for itself and people will decide whether that’s legitimate or not.”