“FOX News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace has been selected to moderate the first presidential debate between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced Wednesday.
Wallace will moderate the first debate, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Cleveland.
Other moderators announced for future debates are Susan Page of USA Today, Steve Scully of C-SPAN and Kristen Welker of NBC News.
Wallace won wide praise for his performance moderating a 2016 debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton. That was the first time a Fox News anchor had been selected to moderate a general election debate.
“We are grateful to these experienced journalists, who will help ensure that the general election presidential debates continue to serve their unique educational purpose of helping the public learn about the candidates. Each individual brings great professionalism to moderating and understands that the purpose of the 2020 debate formats is to facilitate in-depth discussion of major topics,” CPD co-chairs Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., Dorothy S. Ridings and Kenneth Wollack said in a statement.
The first debate will be divided into six segments of approximately 15 minutes each, on major topics to be selected by Wallace himself and announced at least one week before the debate, the CPD announced.
The “FOX News Sunday” anchor will open each segment with a question and each candidate will have two minutes to respond, the organizers said. Trump and Biden then would have a chance to respond to each other, while Wallace could use any remaining time to ask the candidates to elaborate on the subject.
Wallace, who also has co-moderated multiple primary debates, has won every major broadcast news award during his storied career. He has received three Emmy Awards, the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton and the Peabody Award, among many others.
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