Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace says presidential debate season may be a rough time for Joe Biden if he is reluctant to take on the media beforehand.
The presumptive Democratic nominee recently turned down Wallace’s interview request after the host engaged in an hourlong exchange with President Trump, which Wallace noted on Friday’s Bill Hemmer Reports.
“We asked last week for an interview this past Sunday with Joe Biden, and they said he [was] not available for that Sunday,” he said. “That’s not saying that he’s not going to do an interview from now until Election Day, and we will ask every week. But, you know, we’ll see. The interesting thing is he hasn’t done any Sunday shows since COVID. And that’s an interesting thing.”
Trump commented on Biden’s media absence during his interview with Wallace, suggesting that his challenger wouldn’t be able to handle being grilled over how he would handle the presidency.
“Let Biden sit through an interview like this,” Trump said. “He’ll be on the ground crying for mommy. He’ll say, ‘Mommy, mommy, please, take me home.’”
Wallace said refusing to do media appearances may harm Biden once he has to engage in debates because he may not be used to answering tough questions on the spot.
“And I think it raises a risk for the vice president,” Wallace said. “If he does not have the kind of vigorous, persistent questioning that you get on any Sunday show, especially I think on Fox News Sunday, I think that he runs a risk going into that first presidential debate the end of September. You know, you’ve got to get into game shape like you would for a sport season or anything else, and I think if you haven’t, you may be a little rusty, which isn’t a good thing when 80 million people are watching.”
