President Trump may not be debating Joseph R. Biden Jr. on the same stage on Thursday night as originally planned. But the two candidates will still face off in prime time.
NBC said on Wednesday that it would broadcast a televised town hall with Mr. Trump from Miami on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern — the exact time that Mr. Biden will appear on ABC for his own town-hall-style event in Philadelphia.
Mr. Biden’s town hall has been on the books since last week, after Mr. Trump, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, rejected plans to convert the second formal presidential debate into a virtual matchup; the debate was eventually canceled.
Mr. Trump’s campaign then sought its own telecast to rival Mr. Biden’s, leading to a lengthy negotiation with NBC officials who wanted independent proof that the president would not pose a safety risk to other participants — including network crew members, the Florida voters on hand to ask questions, and the moderator, Savannah Guthrie of the “Today” show.
On Wednesday, NBC said the town hall would occur “in accordance with the guidelines set forth by health officials” and proffered a statement from Clifford Lane, a clinical director at the National Institutes of Health.
Keep up with Election 2020
In the statement, Dr. Lane said he and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, had reviewed medical data about Mr. Trump’s condition, including a P.C.R. test that the N.I.H. “collected and analyzed” on Tuesday. (A P.C.R. test is a widely used virus diagnostic that is considered more reliable than a rapid antigen test.) Dr. Lane concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that the president is “not shedding infectious virus,” NBC said.
The network did not explicitly say that Mr. Trump had received a negative result from the P.C.R. test.
Mr. Trump and his aides have not shared extensive details about the president’s medical condition with the public, and over the past few days, NBC executives were no exception.
Until late Tuesday, the network had been prepared to cancel the event if the president’s team did not present convincing evidence that Mr. Trump was not a risk to infect those around him, according to two people familiar with the planning. NBC management said it was not comfortable relying solely on the word of the White House physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, the two people said.
In an interview on Wednesday, Dr. Fauci said that he and Dr. Lane had reviewed the P.C.R. result, as well as data from viral cultures and multiple negative tests on a rapid antigen test, Abbott’s BinaxNOW.
Dr. Fauci said he and Dr. Lane had corresponded with Dr. Conley, who provided all of the information that they assessed. “We were just given the data and we made a determination from the data,” Dr. Fauci said.
Combined with the fact that Mr. Trump was more than 10 days out from the onset of symptoms, Dr. Fauci said, “We can say with a high degree of confidence that he is not transmissible.”
Mr. Trump’s P.C.R. test had a cycle threshold — a proxy for viral load — of 34.3, Dr. Fauci said. According to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with a threshold over 33 carry little to no live virus.
The NBC town hall will be held outdoors at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami, and audience members will be required to wear face masks. The network said that Ms. Guthrie and Mr. Trump would be seated at least 12 feet apart.
Dr. Conley, the White House physician, has not taken reporters’ questions in more than a week. On Monday, he said that Mr. Trump had tested negative “on consecutive days” using a rapid antigen coronavirus test not intended for that purpose. Experts have cautioned that the test’s accuracy has not yet been investigated enough to be sure that the president is virus-free.
The NBC event is one of Mr. Trump’s last opportunities of the campaign to make his case before a large televised audience. It will be simulcast on MSNBC and CNBC, virtually guaranteeing the president a higher Nielsen rating than Mr. Biden’s town hall that night, which is set to air on a single traditional TV network. (Nielsen ratings do not encompass many online streaming views.)
The two candidates are also scheduled to meet for a final debate in Nashville next Thursday, Oct. 22, moderated by the NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker.
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
