President Donald Trump showed no signs of illness during Tuesday night's debate, but the president's family and the family of Democrat nominee Joe Biden treated the precaution orders much differently, as the First Family did not wear masks, Fox News' Chris Wallace, who moderated the event, said Friday.
"I certainly saw no sign of any flagging of energy in the president during the debate," Wallace said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "As we all saw, he was loaded for bear."
The Cleveland Clinic, which hosted the debate, set strict rules for the debate, including having all audience members and the candidates be tested and requiring all people with the exceptions of Trump, Biden, and Wallace to wear masks.
"When (Jill) Biden came in, when members of her party came in, they were all wearing masks and they kept them on throughout the debate," said Wallace. "On the Trump side of the hall, (Melania) Trump came in wearing a mask, but took it off once she sat down. I didn't see when they came in, but all the other members of the first family that I saw there including Ivanka, Tiffany, when they sat down they weren't wearing masks."
Wallace said one of the pool of reporters who was at the debate told him that a representative from the Cleveland Clinic offered the first family masks, but "they waved them away ... people in the hall did notice that while they were wearing masks, including my wife and four of my children, that the first family did not wear masks during the debate."
The first lady, who has also tested positive for coronavirus, also was not wearing a mask when she came up on stage, but Jill Biden was, said Wallace.
Wallace noted that he will also have to be tested, even though he thinks he was far enough from Trump, but "our primary concern is for the health and safety of the president."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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