Chris Wallace on the death of John Lewis, exclusive interview with President Trump
'Fox News Sunday' anchor, Chris Wallace, joins Jon Scott to discuss the passing of civil rights icon John Lewis and the exclusive interview with President Trump, airing this week on 'Fox News Sunday.'
"Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace appeared on "Fox Report Weekend" on Saturday night, where he shared a preview of Sunday's exclusive interview with President Trump.
But first, Wallace talked with host Jon Scott about his memories and impressions of the late civil rights icon, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who died Friday at age 80.
Wallace described Lewis as a "kind man" who exuded a "moral authority" that was undeniable.
"It was an honor and a treat to get to talk to him," Wallace told Scott. "In a sense, you felt that you were traveling back into time because he was a man, as has been pointed out, who was at the legendary 1963 March on Washington, shared the podium with Martin Luther King for his 'I Have a Dream' speech. Here was a man who in 1965 ... was part of 'Bloody Sunday,' the march from Selma [Ala.] to Montgomery for voting rights."
JOHN LEWIS, CIVIL RIGHTS ICON, CONGRESSMAN FOR 33 YEARS, DEAD AT 80
Doctors had diagnosed Lewis with pancreatic cancer late last year.
The son of Alabama sharecroppers, Lewis was already a national figure when he first entered Congress in 1987, representing Georgia from an Atlanta-area district.
"He was as as vibrant and as active in his late 70s and the 80s as he had been in his 20s," Wallace said of Lewis. "And it was just -- what, a month or so ago? -- when the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, put that 'Black Lives Matter' mural on the street in front of the White House, on 16th Street, that John Lewis came there with her to commemorate that and to continue the fight against racism in this country, a fight that occupied him for his entire life.
"He was just a very nice, kind man," Wallace concluded. "But he had this voice that kind of, I don't know, rolled like thunder, rumbled like thunder -- and a moral authority that you couldn't mistake."
Exclusive Trump interview
Wallace also previewed his exclusive interview with President Trump, which includes a back-and-forth over whether presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has called for local police departments to be defunded.
"It’s gotten totally out of control and it’s really because they want to defund the police, and Biden wants to defund the police," Trump said, commenting on crime and violence in cities run by liberals.
Wallace jumped in, saying the president was mistaken about what Biden had said.
Trump then said Biden has "signed a charter" with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., regarding defunding the police -- but Wallace said the agreement did not include any agreement on that point.
"Oh really? It says abolish, it says defund," Trump said, before addressing his staff. "Let’s go. Get me the charter, please."
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"The president couldn't find any statement that the Bernie-Biden charter called for defunding police or abolishing police because there isn't one," Wallace told Scott. "But the president refused to declare defeat, as is his custom."
Wallace's interview with the president will air in its entirety on "Fox News Sunday" at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET.
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