Fox News’ Martha MacCallum Says Covering Coronavirus Pandemic Reminds Her of Covering 9/11

Fox News’ Martha MacCallum will be co-moderating a virtual town hall with President Donald Trump on Sunday, discussing the coronavirus pandemic, the subsequent shelter-in-place order and the reopening of the economy… a current event story which she says “in many ways” reminds her of covering 9/11. The event — called “America Together: Returning to Work” – will be broadcast live from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., 7 p.m. ET to 9 p.m. on Sunday. MacCallum, along with Fox News “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier, will monitor the program, as the president answers viewer-submitted questions for somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours. “We’ve been following this story very closely, so wherever there are facts that need to be reined in or questions that need to be pressed further, that’s what we’re there for,” she said of herself and Baier. MacCallum was preparing for a year of travel and political coverage as the November election approached when the coronavirus pandemic locked Americans in their homes. “I learned a long time ago in covering the country, covering news and covering politics, there’s always the surprise event that no one anticipates coming,” she told TheWrap. “In many ways, it does remind me of covering Sept. 11. Once again, New York and New Jersey were the epicenter of that attack and we’re seeing that again.” “I am struck by understanding that we all have plans in life, I planned that this was going to be a year of covering politics,” she continued. “I was going to be traveling across the country, covering the election and you never know what’s coming at you. That’s the way life is and that’s the way history is.” This isn’t the first rodeo for MacCallum and Baier, who last interviewed Trump on March 5 for a town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania. That was the most-watched election town hall in cable news history with 4.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Some of MacCallum’s coronavirus-related interviews in the past few weeks have made headlines, as she has pressed governors on how they plan to safely reopen their states. She’s spoken to the governors of Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio and North Dakota, all of whom have different ideas about if their states should reopen and, if so, how and when. “One of the things I think is very interesting about talking to the governors is that they have the power to shut things down, but once they start opening things up, the power sort of turns back over to the consumer,” she said, adding that consumer “confidence” will really determine whether a state’s businesses have reopened. “Everything seems to be virtual right now,” she said of Sunday’s town hall. “But I do think it will give people the opportunity to send their question in, feel like the president is addressing them personally and we’re going to have a good mix of people across the country that we probably couldn’t achieve if we did the town hall in one state.” “America Together: Returning to Work” airs Sunday 7 p.m. ET on Fox News.