Trump adviser attacks Fox News host Chris Wallace as 'effective opposition to the president' when asked why Trump's family didn't wear masks during the debate

• In a "Fox News Sunday" interview, the host Chris Wallace grilled Steve Cortes, a senior Trump campaign adviser, on why the first family did not wear masks at the presidential debate on Tuesday.
• Wallace said the first family "broke the rules" requiring everyone except President Donald Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Wallace, the moderator, to wear masks.
• Cortes redirected the conversation to Wallace's performance and accused him of not being a "neutral moderator."

In a "Fox News Sunday" interview, Steve Cortes, a senior Trump campaign adviser, and the host Chris Wallace sparred over the first family's refusal to wear masks at the presidential debate on Tuesday night.

The debate happened three days before President Donald Trump announced early Friday that he and the first lady had tested positive for COVID-19.

Wallace on Sunday said the only people exempt from wearing a mask at the debate were Trump, former Vice President Joe Biden, and himself, as he was moderating. He added that Cleveland Clinic staff members "came over and offered the first family masks" but "were waved away."

"Everybody was told to wear a mask," Wallace said. "Why did the first family and the chief of staff feel that the rules for everybody else didn't apply to them?"

Cortes insisted that everyone was tested. "We believe in masks," he said. "We also believe in some element of individual choice."

Wallace pushed back. He had earlier noted that "everybody that was in that room was tested, and the Cleveland Clinic's regulation was it didn't matter — everybody except for the three of us on the stage was to wear a mask."

"They weren't distanced, and there were rules, and there was no freedom of choice. They broke the rules," Wallace said.

Cortes deflected, criticizing Wallace's moderation of the debate.

"Chris, the way you're starting to harangue me now actually reminds me of what you did to the president during that debate on Tuesday night," Cortes said, adding, "You were not a neutral moderator then."

Cortes also accused Wallace of being "the effective opposition to the president."

Following last week's debate, Trump and his allies accused Wallace of bias against the president. Wallace had said he was disappointed on behalf of America after the disastrous 90-minute affair, in which Trump frequently interrupted and Biden told the president to "shut up."

"I never dreamt that it would go off the tracks the way it did," Wallace told The New York Times on Wednesday.

• Read more:
• Election debate officials are considering muting candidates' mics, report says, after Trump interrupted 71 times in the chaotic first round
• 2 days before Trump and Melania tested positive for COVID-19, the Trump family broke venue rules and went mask-less at the presidential debate
• At least 8 people who attended a White House Rose Garden event for Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court nomination have tested positive for COVID-19
• A running list of all the people Trump came into contact with in the days before he tested positive for COVID-19