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I read that if sentence is in past tense then all clauses of the sentence should be in past, except if it is a universal truth.

Now, I want to create a sentence and situation is this - I watched interview of a politician and now I want to express my experience but not sure

I watched ABC's interview and whole time I was wondering if this is ABC who is giving the interview or if it is XYZ wearing his mask and giving the interview.

OR

I watched ABC's interview and whole time I was wondering if this was ABC who was giving the interview or if it was XYZ wearing his mask and giving the interview.

I have highlighted the part where I have question in bold and italics. Basically I am confused that because of the rule I have mentioned above whole sentence should be in past tense (my second sentence above) or it could be in present tense as well (my first sentence above).

Which one of them is correct?

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    How can anything in that sentence be a universal truth? to give an interview is a one-time occurrence. I watched ABC's interview and was wondering if he is a nice man.
    – Lambie
    Commented Feb 7, 2022 at 16:11

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It is the second sentence that is correct, with its "was"s.

If you had set off the second part of the first sentence in quotes, then it would be correct.

I watched ABC's interview and whole time I was wondering "Is this ABC who is giving the interview or if it is XYZ wearing his mask and giving the interview?"

This is correct because you're quoting your thoughts, which were in the present tense when you thought them.

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