Career beginnings: The Boston Globe Although accepted at
Yale Law School, he decided to work for
The Boston Globe, where his boss described him as an "aggressive and ambitious reporter". He first covered City Hall during the time
Kevin White was mayor of Boston and later became a roving national reporter. Wallace noticed the power of television when he saw all the reporters at the 1972
political conventions were watching the proceedings on television instead of in person. For a time in the early 1970s, he worked for the Chicago station
WBBM-TV, which is owned and operated by CBS.
1975–1988: Network journalism debut at NBC News After seeing the impact television had on news at the
1972 Republican National Convention, he focused on working on broadcast news, first at
NBC (1975–1988). Wallace began his network journalism career with
NBC in 1975, where he stayed for 14 years as a reporter with
WNBC-TV in New York City. Wallace then transferred to NBC's Washington bureau as a political correspondent for
NBC News and later served as Washington co-anchor and news reader for the
Today show with
Bryant Gumbel and
Jane Pauley in 1982. That same year, he also served as chief
White House correspondent (1982–1989) alongside contemporaries
CBS's
Lesley Stahl and
ABC's
Sam Donaldson. He later served as anchor of the Sunday edition of
NBC Nightly News (1982–1984, 1986–1987), and moderator of
Meet the Press (1987–1988). On May 18, 1985, as part of an
NBC News special, Wallace did a joint interview with
Ronald Reagan and
Nancy Reagan at
Camp David. Some journalists have described Wallace's style as confrontational. During President
Ronald Reagan's news conference in March 1987, when Reagan admitted to
dealing arms for hostages, Wallace asked Reagan why he had denied that Israel was involved with the arms sales to Iran "when you knew that wasn't true." In 1988, Wallace covered the
1988 Republican National Convention for
NBC News, where he interviewed political figures, including real estate tycoon
Donald Trump questioning him about flirting with running for political office.
1989–2003: ABC News correspondent and
Nancy Reagan in 1985 Wallace left NBC in late 1988 for
ABC.
Sam Donaldson, ABC's outgoing chief White House correspondent, said he was "delighted" and "very pleased" that Wallace, his journalistic rival, would be joining the network saying, "I've always liked his work, I think he's going to be a plus." At
ABC News, Wallace was the senior correspondent for
Primetime Live and occasionally hosted
Nightline. During the
Persian Gulf War in 1991, he reported from
Tel Aviv on the Iraqi
Scud missile attacks. At the time, the
Israeli government did not want to advertise where the Scuds landed to prevent the Iraqis from adjusting their launchers. On one episode of
Nightline, Wallace started describing the location where a Scud missile landed in Tel Aviv. Host
Ted Koppel cut him off and asked him to point to a general area rather than give a specific location.
2003–2021: Fox News and presidential debates Fox News Sunday in 2015.|left After 14 years at ABC, Wallace left in 2003 to join
Fox News. Wallace began hosting
Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace in 2003 after replacing
Tony Snow. Wallace and
Shepard Smith gained a reputation at Fox for their reputable status as journalists on the network. In an interview with the
Chicago Tribune,
Howard Kurtz wrote, "Fox seems to be inching toward more conventional journalism." When asked about his political opinions, Wallace stated, "Do I have political opinions? Absolutely. But I vote for the person, and I've voted for Republicans and Democrats and independents over the course of my life. I feel very strongly that you try not to let that affect the way you report the news." On March 3, 2016, Wallace joined
Bret Baier, and
Megyn Kelly in moderating the
2016 Republican Party Presidential debate on
Fox News. In 2017, he interviewed President
Donald Trump in his first interview since being elected.
Debates, coverage, and interviews ,
Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace moderating the
2016 Republican Party Presidential debate The
Commission on Presidential Debates selected Chris Wallace as moderator of the third and final
2016 Presidential debate between
Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton. The debate was held on October 19, 2016, at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This was the first time a Fox News
anchor had moderated a general election presidential debate. After he was selected, Wallace said, "it's not my job" to fact-check candidates, but that it was the job of the opposing candidate. Wallace stated, "I take it very seriously, this is not a TV show. This is part of civics, the constitution, if you will, in action, because this is helping millions of people decide who we're going to elect as the next president". He received notable praise from both sides of the aisle for his tough questioning of both presidential candidates at that last presidential debate of the 2016 election. Afterward,
Jennifer Rubin in
The Washington Post said that, despite her strong disapproval of other Fox News commentators, "No one could watch the final debate and deny that Chris Wallace is among the best in the business."
Interview with Vladimir Putin (2018) in 2018|left In July 2018, Wallace interviewed Russian leader
Vladimir Putin. Wallace questioned Putin about why so many of his political opponents end up dead, and sought to hand Putin papers containing the indictment of 12 Russian agents for interference in the 2016 election. Putin declined to touch the papers. According to
The Washington Post's Aaron Blake, Putin was "clearly frustrated by a journalist actually challenging him". His interview earned him a
News & Documentary Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Live Interview. However, the winner was
Christiane Amanpour via
CNN International’s
Amanpour, in which she interviewed the
Archbishop of New York Cardinal
Timothy Dolan. It was the first News & Documentary Award nomination in Fox News' history.
Coverage of the Kavanaugh hearings In September 2018, Wallace covered the Supreme Court hearings for
Brett Kavanaugh, during which Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by multiple women, including
Christine Blasey Ford. Wallace described Ford's testimony as "extremely emotional, extremely raw, and extremely credible...nobody could listen to her deliver those words and talk about the assault and the impact it had had on his life, on her life, and not have your heart go out to her. She obviously was traumatized by an event." He also described the cross-examination format as "a disaster for the Republicans." When Ford's testimony was criticized by conservative pundits, Wallace discussed how his daughters had related their own previously undisclosed experiences. Wallace said they "hadn't told their parents, I don't know if they told their friends. Certainly had never reported it to police...But the point is that there are teenage girls who don't tell stories to a lot of people, and then it comes up, and I don't think we can disregard that, I don't think we can disregard Christine Blasey Ford and the seriousness of this. I think that would be a big mistake."
Coverage of the impeachment of Donald Trump On January 27, 2020, Wallace got into a heated exchange with conservative pundit
Katie Pavlich of
TownHall.com on
Fox News Sunday as to whether or not additional witnesses should be allowed to testify during the
2020 Impeachment trial of Donald Trump in the Senate. Pavlich argued that Republicans should be allowed to deny Democrats the right to call witnesses during the trial citing the
1998 Investigation and Impeachment of Bill Clinton. Wallace objected stating, "So we just shouldn't listen to what
John Bolton has to say?", elaborating, "To say in the Clinton investigation, these people who were interviewed by the House — one, they weren't — and to say that it wasn't done by the Justice Department... It wasn't done because the Justice Department refused to carry out the investigation! Get your facts straight!"
Interview with Donald Trump (2020) On July 19, 2020, Wallace sat down with President
Donald Trump for a wide-ranging interview outside
The White House. The interview gained much attention on social media and conventional news outlets for its content. Wallace earned praise for holding Trump accountable and fact-checking him in real time. In the midst of the ongoing nationwide
Black Lives Matter protests over the
murder of George Floyd, Wallace pressed Trump on his claim that
Joe Biden, the presumptive
2020 Democratic presidential nominee wanted to "defund and abolish" the police by replying "No, sir, he does not." In reference to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Wallace also challenged Trump on his exaggerated claims concerning the mortality rate and testing for
COVID-19. When confronted by the statistics, the President responded: "I'll be right eventually." Many have compared the interview style with that of Wallace's father,
60 Minutes journalist
Mike Wallace. This includes Frank Sesno, a professor at
George Washington University who teaches a class on "the art of the interview", who stated, "He's very good at this. He's been doing this for a long time. And he's got the Wallace DNA."
First presidential debate (2020) The
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) selected Wallace as moderator of the first
presidential debate, held on September 29, 2020, at
Case Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, Ohio. The debate was deemed a "disaster" by various news pundits for its lack of decorum, civility, and content. During the debate, Wallace tried to gain control numerous times including stopping the debate and telling the candidates, specifically Trump, "So here's the deal...I think the country would be better served if we allowed both people to speak with fewer interruptions, I'm appealing to you sir". Numerous post debate polls declared Biden the winner of the debate. In response to the debate, Wallace shared his frustration with the President in an interview with
Bill Hemmer where he stated that Trump "bears the primary responsibility for what happened" and that "It was frustrating for me because I tried hard to prepare for a serious debate, much more frustrating and more importantly for the American people because they didn't get the debate they wanted that they deserved." Some viewers, including several Fox News personalities, accused Wallace of unfairness towards Trump, though Fox News executives released a statement commending Wallace's "professionalism, skill and fortitude in a unique situation."
2020 U.S. presidential election On November 3, Wallace joined
Brit Hume,
Juan Williams, and
Dana Perino in
Bret Baier and
Martha MacCallum's
election night coverage of the
2020 presidential election on
Fox News. Wallace defended the network's decision to call Arizona for Biden over Trump despite being under tremendous pressure from Trump and his campaign. Later that night, Trump prematurely declared victory in the election, saying: "Frankly, we did win this election," despite there having been too few results received from other states for either Trump or Biden to have won. Trump also stated he wanted "all the voting to stop". Wallace reacted to the President's claim by stating on air: "This is an extremely flammable situation and the president just threw a match into it. He hasn't won these states ... the president doesn't get to say he won states ... there's no question that all these states can continue to count votes." Wallace further condemned Trump's wanting to halt votes from being counted by saying that it was "extremely irresponsible" and that he didn't think the courts would allow it.
2022–2024: Transition to CNN and departure On the December 12, 2021, episode of
Fox News Sunday, Wallace announced that it would be his final day hosting the program. It was later announced that Wallace had been hired by
CNN to host a new program for its streaming service
CNN+, which launched in April 2022. Wallace stated the show was inspired by
Larry King,
Charlie Rose, and his father
Mike Wallace. He said the work environment at Fox grew "increasingly unsustainable" for him after the 2020 election. In an interview in 2024, he claimed the reason he left Fox was because he had enough of their "lies" and "conspiracies". Wallace moved to
CNN where he served as the host of the interview program ''
Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?. On April 21, 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN and CNN+, announced they were shutting down CNN+, which occurred on April 28. At their Upfront presentation the following month, it was revealed that Who's Talking'' had gone back into production, and would make its new home at CNN and
HBO Max. In its first season Wallace interviewed former
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, actor
George Clooney, representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, comedian
Billy Crystal, athlete
Alex Rodriguez, musician
Meghan Trainor, chef
José Andrés, and author
James Patterson. Other notable interviews throughout the rest of its run were with
James Cameron,
Hugh Jackman,
Harrison Ford,
Matt Damon,
Bernie Sanders,
Charlamagne tha God,
Bill Maher,
Larry David, and
Stephen A. Smith. Following Wallace's departure from CNN, ''Who's Talking'' ended on November 15, 2024. In August 2023, it was announced in a major news programming overhaul that Wallace would host a new CNN Saturday morning program called
The Chris Wallace Show from 10 to 11 a.m.
Eastern Time Zone. He will continue to host ''Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?''. The program consisted of Wallace and a panel of reporters and commentators discussing the notable political stories of the week. Additional segments included "Yea or Nay", in which panelists gave their approval or disapproval to a new social trend, and "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", in which panelists predicted what the biggest news story would be in the coming weeks. Regular panelists included
Lulu Garcia-Navarro,
Kara Swisher,
Kristin Soltis Anderson, and
Reihan Salam. The final episode aired on November 23, 2024. Despite the network pushing for him to stay, Wallace declined to extend his contract with CNN, and departed the network in November, with plans for an independent venture into streaming or podcasting. Puck News claimed that prior to the announcement of his departure, CNN CEO
Mark Thompson had informed Wallace that ''Who's Talking
and The Chris Wallace Show'' would be cancelled due to low ratings, but that he was welcome to stay on as an analyst on a significantly reduced salary. Wallace denied to Puck that he discussed a future role on CNN, and said that he decided with his wife to leave the network six months before his announcement. ==Media appearances==