Trump, Biden Will Participate In Competing Town Halls After Debate Cancellation

President Trump will participate in an NBC News town hall held outdoors in Miami on Thursday, setting up an evening of competing events featuring the president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The events will take place in lieu of the second presidential debate, which was canceled last week after Trump rejected the debate's new virtual format. The next and final debate will be held Oct. 22.

Thursday’s Trump town hall will be moderated by Savannah Guthrie and will take place outdoors at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami. The event will air at 8 p.m. for one hour, with Guthrie moderating a conversation between Trump and Florida voters.

Biden previously announced he would take part in an ABC News town hall the same evening in Philadelphia, which will air at the same time as the president's town hall and will run for an hour and a half.

The events come as the presidential election is three weeks away and both campaigns are staging their final push for potential voters. Trump, who revealed less than two weeks ago that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19, returned to large campaign rallies this week after being cleared for public events by his doctor.

Biden traveled to Pennsylvania last weekend and made stops in Ohio and Florida at the beginning of this week.

The Commission on Presidential Debates canceled the second debate between Trump and Biden, which had been scheduled for Thursday, after Trump and his campaign objected to the commission’s decision to make it virtual for health and safety reasons. The move came days after Trump was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he received treatment for COVID-19, and before the White House said he had been cleared for public events.

White House physician Sean Conley said Monday that Trump tested negative for COVID-19 on consecutive days.