Biden’s NBC town hall is still on, while Trump remains hospitalized with coronavirus – The Philadelphia Inquirer

While President Donald Trump remains hospitalized at Walter Reed after contracting COVID-19, former Vice President Joe Biden is sticking with his campaign schedule, which includes a town hall that will air live on NBC Monday night.

Biden appeared on stage with Trump during last week’s presidential debate on Tuesday, and it’s possible the president had already been infected with coronavirus prior to the event. The former vice president has since tested negative for COVID-19 multiple times — most recently Sunday night, according to his campaign.

Monday night’s town hall will be held outdoors at Pérez Art Museum Miami in downtown Miami, featuring a socially distanced audience of about 60 people, NBC said. Attendees will be required to wear face masks during the duration of the town hall, and everyone will have their temperature checked prior to entering, according to a spokesperson. It will air live on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC.

The NBC town hall could be a preview of the second presidential debate, which is scheduled to take place on Oct. 15 in Miami. If Trump is unhealthy enough to attend or is held back out of fear of spreading the virus, Biden’s campaign said he would participate in the second debate — a town hall format that will be moderated by C-SPAN Political Editor Steve Scully — by himself.

“We are hoping President Trump can participate. We’re hoping that he’s medically able to participate, and that is up to his doctors to clear him,” Symone Sanders, a senior Biden campaign adviser, said during an interview on CNN Sunday. “But Joe Biden will be at that debate.”

Here’s everything you need to know to watch and stream Monday night’s town hall on NBC:

The town hall, which will air live on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC, is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Eastern and last about an hour.

You can stream the town hall on the NBC News app and on NBCNews.com. The networks are also available on several so-called skinny bundles, including fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and AT&T Now.

You can also stream it here, courtesy of NBC News:

Moderating the town hall will be Lester Holt, the anchor of NBC Nightly News. Holt has been with NBC News since 2003, and has hosted NBC Nightly News since 2015, replacing Brian Williams, who falsely claimed his helicopter had been hit by enemy fire while covering the Iraq War.

Holt moderated the first presidential debate between Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton back in 2016. Prior to the debate, Trump famously complained that “Lester is a Democrat,” despite Holt being a registered Republican at the time. In 2018, Holt officially removed his party affiliation and registered as an independent.

Holt is probably best known in political circles for getting Trump to admit he had fired former FBI Director James Comey due to his investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election.

Biden sat for an interview with Holt back in January, but the pre-coronavirus conversation feels like a lifetime ago, with topics centered around the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Suleimani and the then-undecided Democratic primary. But Trump’s tax returns, which have returned to the news recently thanks to a New York Times investigation, did come up.

“Stop talking about corruption, Mr. President, unless you release your tax returns,” Biden said. “Hush up. Step up.”

The Trump and Biden campaigns have agreed to three debates during the 2020 election. The first debate was held last week in Ohio, and the remaining two are in doubt after Trump contracted coronavirus.