May 16, 2024 - 17:05
By huffpost.com

Chris Wallace, Who Moderated Chaotic 2020 Debate, Offers Trump A Word Of Advice

CNN’s Chris Wallace said it would be “suicidal” for Donald Trump to conduct himself in the same manner he did during his first 2020 debate with President Joe Biden.

Trump and Biden agreed on Wednesday to presidential debates in June and September after Biden extended a challenge. The two are the presumptive nominees for the 2024 presidential election.

Wallace, the former Fox News host who moderated the train wreck first debate between the pair in 2020, told CNN’s Abby Phillip on Wednesday that some in Trump’s camp felt that the former president “came on way too hot.”

He interrupted Biden and Wallace more than 100 times during the September 2020 event.

“If I were giving Trump advice, I would let Biden talk, because sometimes Biden gets himself in trouble,” Wallace said.

“And then I’d counterpunch… I think Trump thought, ‘I’m going to be able to throw Biden off his game, I’m going to be able to get him confused.’ It didn’t work,” he continued. “Biden kept his cool, and the person who ended up looking bad was Trump. If he does the same thing again, he’s a fool.”

Wallace noted that it had been decades since a presidential debate was held so early in the campaign. Typically, debates are held from September onward.

“I frankly think that this was a very smart move by Joe Biden,” Wallace said, characterizing it as a way for Biden to disrupt the current arc of the race and polls and disprove Trump’s assertions that he is too old and incompetent.

CNN announced Wednesday that hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the June debate. ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis will handle the second event in September.