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President Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden are competing for TV audiences in duelling town halls on Thursday night instead of meeting face-to-face for their second debate as originally planned.

The two will take questions in different cities on different networks at 8 p.m. ET: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia.

When is Donald Trump’s town hall tonight?

Donald Trump and Joe Biden will take questions in different cities on different networks at 8 p.m. ET: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia.

Press play below to watch Trump’s event

Switch to Joe Biden’s town hall here

Trump travelled to North Carolina and Florida on Thursday, and took some of his most overt swipes yet at Dr. Anthony Fauci while campaigning in North Carolina.

Trump is defending his administration’s response to the pandemic, as he generally does at his rallies.

He offered a reminder that Fauci at one point said that people should not wear a mask. The doctor has said that an early recommendation about not wearing a mask was because there was a shortage of personal protective equipment for health professionals at the time. He has since called for universal mask wearing.

Trump called Fauci a nice guy, “so I keep him around.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Pitt-Greenville Airport Thursday in Greenville, N.C.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press

But he also described Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, as a Democrat. “Everybody knows that. He’s Cuomo’s friend,” Trump says, a reference to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Fauci has been studiously apolitical over a five-decade career in public health. The doctor has expressed dismay that the President used his comments in a campaign ad and says his comments were taken out of context.

Trump has added some more new material to his campaign rally speech: his teenage son Barron’s recent coronavirus infection.

Trump has worked the 14-year-old’s medical condition into his rally speech since the First Lady disclosed Wednesday that their son had tested positive. She said he didn’t have any symptoms and has since tested negative.

Mrs. Trump has fiercely guarded the ninth-grader’s privacy, but the President is now using his son’s case to bolster his argument for why schools can and should fully re-open.

At a rally Thursday in Greenville, N.C., Trump said: “My beautiful Barron had it. He recovered so fast.” Trump and the First Lady have also recovered from the coronavirus.

More coverage

Analysis: The Biden and Trump campaigns are borrowing different pages from 2016 playbooks

Duelling town halls to be held for Trump, Biden after debate plan nixed

Battleground America: How Donald Trump wins, and how Joe Biden prevails

News from Trump’s campaign

As virus spread early on, reports of Trump administration briefings fueled sell-off

Trump looks to boost support by talking to Iowa business leaders

The first Trump-Biden debate

Key takeaways from a chaotic evening with little policy substance


Compiled by Globe Staff, with a report from The Associated Press


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