US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will duel on different prime-time town hall events on Thursday instead of their second presidential debate.
The twin events, in which each candidate will field questions from voters, will both take place with Trump on NBC, and Biden on ABC.
Trump pulled out of the debate when the commission in charge of organizing the event said it would be held virtually due to concerns about the novel coronavirus.
The president announced on October 2 he had contracted the disease, but he has returned to the campaign trail after treatment, including several days in a military hospital.
In announcing the Trump town hall on Wednesday, NBC said it obtained a statement on Trump’s health from Clifford Lane, clinical director at the National Institutes of Health.
NBC said Lane and the government’s top infectious disease specialist, Anthony Fauci, concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that Trump was no longer “shedding infectious virus.” Fauci confirmed the statement in an interview with CBS on Wednesday, citing tests that Trump had recently taken.
With less than three weeks until the Nov. 3 election and millions of ballots already cast in early voting, Trump, a Republican, is still searching for ways to change the dynamics of a race in which Biden has a double-digit advantage in national polls.
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