Veteran newsman and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is all set to moderate the first presidential debate between US President Donald Trump and his presidential opponent Joe Biden on Tuesday.
The 72-year-old journalist is the son of legendary ’60 Minutes’ reporter Mike Wallace, who was known for his pugnacious interviews on the CBS show.
However, Wallace junior is best known for his tough and wide-ranging interviews and has a reputation for playing it straight at a network where the opinion hosts skew to the right.
Also read: ‘No handshakes, limited audience’: Pandemic-era US presidential debate will look a lot different
Wallace will serve as the sole moderator for Tuesday’s debate between the 74-year-old Trump and 77-year-old Biden at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Speaking to Fox News Radio, Trump said that while he has a “lot of respect” for Wallace, he was “willing to bet that he won’t ask Biden tough questions.”
“He’ll ask me tough questions, and it’ll show, it’ll be unfair,” Trump said. “He’ll be controlled by the radical left.”
A registered Democrat, Wallace moved to Fox in 2003 and became the host of the network’s political chat show ‘Fox News Sunday’.
Also read: Win the vote but still lose? Behold the US Electoral College
He served as moderator for one of the 2016 presidential debates between Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and became the first Fox News anchor to do so and was praised for his performance from both sides.
Wallace has received numerous awards over his career, including an Emmy Award for a tough 2018 interview with Vladimir Putin during which he notably asked the Russian leader about the untimely deaths of his political opponents.
It is the first of three debates to be held ahead of the November 3 election.