Trump Challenges Moderator Chris Wallace: ‘I Guess I’m Debating You, Not Him. But That’s Okay.’

President Trump butted heads with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace early in Tuesday night’s debate over healthcare policy, prompting the president to go after Wallace for attempting to join the debate rather than moderate it.

Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, former vice president of the United States, met on a debate stage in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday night for the first presidential debate of the 2020 campaign. Early in the night, Wallace struggled to get a question out over Trump’s plan for healthcare policy after Trump has heavily criticized the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, passed under former President Barack Obama and Biden

“Go ahead, Chris,” Trump responded.

Wallace then went on to question Trump over the president’s plan for healthcare.

“You, in the course of these four years, have never come up with a comprehensive plan to replace Obamacare, and just this last Thursday, you signed a largely symbolic executive order to protect people with preexisting conditions five days before this debate, so my question is what is the Trump healthcare plan?” Wallace asked.

Trump began his response by hitting Wallace, accusing him of being an active combatant in the presidential debate rather than an objective moderator.

“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.

The executive order that Trump signed five days before the debate is a largely symbolic recounting of the actions his administration has taken on healthcare policy and a stated recommitment to an agenda of “restoring choice and control to the American patient,” “lower costs to make healthcare more affordable for American patients,” and “providing better care for all Americans.”

The order also restates Trump’s stated commitment to providing healthcare for people with preexisting conditions.“It has been and will continue to be the policy of the United States to give Americans seeking healthcare more choice, lower costs, and better care and to ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions can obtain the insurance of their choice at affordable rates,” the order says.