Fox News reporter Chris Wallace said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should face the rigor of a hard-hitting interview of the type that he said he subjected President Donald Trump to recently.
In the interview, Wallace challenged Trump on the president’s characterization of the state of the COVID-19 outbreak in America as “burning embers,” with the Fox News reporter calling the recent spike in infections a “forest fire.” The two also sparred over Trump’s assertion that Biden has called for defunding police departments as well as the president’s opposition to banning the Confederate flag on grounds of freedom of speech.
Still, Wallace tipped his hat to Trump for his readiness to sit for the interview, which the reporter prefaced by saying that the president “agreed to answer all manner of questions, no subject off-limits.” Wallace also said his network has asked Biden for an interview, without going into further detail.
“The fact is, the president is out there. He’s out there in this broiling heat with me for an hour, he took all the questions,“ Wallace told Fox anchor Bret Baier. ”You can like his answers or dislike them but he had answers and Joe Biden hasn’t faced that kind of scrutiny, hasn’t faced that kind of exposure,” he added.
“You’ve got to feel at some point he’s going to come out from the basement,” Wallace said, in reference to Biden streaming interviews from his home studio.
“He’s gonna have to be more exposed and take questions just as tough as the ones I asked this president,” Wallace added, noting also that Biden faces the prospect of three public debates against Trump, adding that, in his view, “the president can handle himself in these debates.”
“I think there is an open question there, can Joe Biden do the same?” Wallace added.
Trump, during his conversation with Wallace, called into question Biden’s ability to go through a demanding interview and questioned the former Vice President’s mental faculties.
“I'd say he’s not competent to be president. To be president, you have to be sharp and tough and so many other things,” Trump said, adding, “He doesn’t even come out of his basement.”
“Let Biden sit through an interview like this, he’ll be on the ground crying for mommy,” Trump joked.
