Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said that he was “jealous” of Thursday night debate moderator NBC News journalist Kristen Welker, who received generally positive reviews for her performance.
Wallace received backlash from both the Left and the Right for his fumbled debate moderating last month.
“Well, first of all I’m jealous,” Wallace said on Fox News airwaves post-debate.
“I would have liked to have been able to moderate that debate and to get a real exchange of views instead of hundreds of interruptions,” he said, adding that it was overall a “good substantive debate” with slight Biden-leaning bias.
Wallace, who was hit by Republicans and Democrats alike for allowing chaos to ensue during his debate moderating, seemed to suggest Welker was helped by a new rule from the Commission on Presidential Debates which allows for the “muting” of former VP Joe Biden and President Donald Trump’s mics for their first two-minute responses. However, journalist Brit Hume suggested in the same segment that it seemed Welker did not have to use the “mute” button at all.
Back in September, Wallace took heat for his seeming intervention to chide Trump when Biden was feeling the heat or leveling insults at POTUS.
Even a colleague of Wallace’s, Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, publicly dinged the moderating: “Why is [Joe Biden] allowed to interrupt? [Donald Trump] is not,” posted the “Fox&Friends” host.
The president also highlighted Wallace’s apparent bias against him mid-debate, accusing Wallace of debating him instead of moderating:
“You promised to repeal and replace Obamacare but you have never in these four years come up with a plan, a comprehensive plan to replace Obamacare …,” Wallace began before Trump interrupted.
“Of course I have. I got rid of the individual mandate,” Trump said over Wallace as the moderator struggled to get his question out. “That is absolutely a big thing. That was the worst part of Obamacare.”
The two struggled to be heard over the sound of the other until Wallace, exasperated, finally said, “Mr. President, I am the moderator of this debate and I would like you to let me ask my question.”
“Go ahead, Chris,” Trump responded. […]
“Well, first of all, I guess I’m debating you, not him. But that’s okay. Let me just tell you something, there’s nothing symbolic. I’m cutting drug prices, I’m going with favored nations, which no president has the courage to do cause you’re going against big pharma. Drug prices will be coming down 80 or 90 percent,” Trump said.
In contrast, the general consensus for Welker was that the NBC journalist was far fairer, though she was hit for showing a pro-Biden bias in the framing of several questions, as well as some inconsistent interrupting.
As noted by The Daily Wire, there was one point in the debate where Trump offered Welker a compliment for treating him fairly. “So far, I respect very much the way you’re handling this, I have to say,” he said.
Related: Chris Wallace Faces Intense Backlash, Including From Colleagues, Over Bias During Debate