The Sinclair Broadcast Group will hold a town hall with President Donald Trump next Wednesday, one day before the final presidential debate.
The event will be taped at the White House and moderated by Eric Bolling, the former Fox News host who left the network amid sexual harassment allegations in 2017. Bolling is now host of “America This Week,” Sinclair’s weekly show that airs on Wednesday nights.
“We aim to give Sinclair viewers the answers to their most burning questions and look forward to getting a detailed view on what the next four years would look like under President Trump,” Bolling said in a statement.
In July, “America This Week” came under fire for scheduling an interview with Judy Mikovits, a researcher who had appeared to accuse Dr. Anthony Fauci of helping to create the coronavirus. Under pressure, Sinclair dropped plans to air the interview.
Bolling will interview Trump and also take questions from the audience, similar to the format used in Thursday’s town halls with Trump and Joe Biden on NBC and ABC, respectively. The hourlong program will start at 8 p.m.
Sinclair will air the event across all of its CW and MyNet stations, which operate in 55 local markets across the country. The town hall will also be broadcast on the Sinclair station websites.
The station group said it had extended a similar offer to Biden’s campaign.
“We have been in touch with his team and we are hopeful that we will be able to feature him and bring his policy positions directly to the voters in a similar fashion,” said Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s senior vice president of news.
Trump and Biden are set to meet the following night at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., for their final debate. The debate will be moderated by NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
On Friday, the Commission on Presidential Debates released the topics for the debate: fighting COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership.