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Lara Trump, Fox News host Chris Wallace spar over president's family removing masks at first debate

WASHINGTON – Lara Trump, a top campaign aide to President Donald Trump, sparred Sunday with Fox News host Chris Wallace over the Trump family's refusal to wear face masks during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29.

"Did you think, Lara, that the rules that applied to everybody else in that hall didn't apply to you?" "Fox News Sunday" host Wallace said as he asked Lara Trump about the absence of face coverings among the Trump family during the debate.

"We walked in with a mask on. We sat down – all the seats were socially distanced, and...I want to be very clear, never one time did anyone from Cleveland Clinic come up and ask any member of our family to put a mask on. So, that is totally false," she replied.

Trump said no one from the clinic asked her family to put on a mask, adding she thought a Cleveland Clinic employee had asked a person sitting behind her to offer a different mask. All members of the audience tested negative for COVID-19, Trump said.

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"What I understand afterwards is that Colby Covington, who was sitting behind me, had a MAGA mask on and they didn't appreciate that apparently," she said, referring to the UFC fighter and Trump supporter who attended the debate as a guest of the president. "So I think they were coming up to offer him maybe a different mask."

Wallace said a member of the Trump campaign group was offered a face mask by a Cleveland Clinic employee, citing both a pool report and a video, but "they were waved away." The video seems to show an employee offering a mask to a person sitting behind Trump, but does not capture one being offered to any members of the family.

The Trump family and other guests of the president walked into the debate in Cleveland, Ohio wearing masks but mostly declined to wear face masks during the debate itself despite the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donald Trump Jr., son of the US President, Eric Trump, son of the US President, attorney and television personality Kimberly Guilfoyle, campaign adviser to the US President and Eric Trump's wife Lara Trump, daughter of the US President Tiffany Trump and daughter and Senior Advisor to the US President Ivanka Trump are seen ahead of the first presidential debate at the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio
Ivanka Trump removes her mask after arriving at the first Presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden in the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Cleveland Clinic, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, in Cleveland.
Ivanka Trump removes her mask after arriving at the first Presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden in the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion at the Cleveland Clinic, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, in Cleveland.

The audience at the first presidential debate was strictly limited compared to the large audiences normally at debates in an effort to promote social distancing. COVID-19 tests and mask-wearing were required for all in attendance.

Trump and his campaign staff, however, arrived too late to be tested before the debate, and Wallace told Fox the president's tardiness meant "there was an honor system" on test results.

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It is possible the president and his inner circle had been exposed to COVID-19 before the debate.

The president, top staff, and advisers including those who helped him prep for the debate have all tested positive for COVID-19. Trump announced a positive test result on Oct. 2.

The president and many of those officials attended a Sept. 26 event at the White House Rose Garden where Trump announced his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. The event has since been called a "superspreader" event by public health experts including the nation's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The president's COVID-19 diagnosis and the ongoing pandemic prompted the Commission on Presidential Debates to move the second scheduled presidential debate on Oct. 15 to a virtual format. Citing concerns with a virtual debate, Trump pulled out, and the Commission canceled the debate.

The next presidential debate, originally the third debate, is scheduled for Oct. 22 and will be moderated by NBC correspondent Kristen Welker.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19: Lara Trump spars with Chris Wallace over debate face masks