Fox News attempted to make history with first-ever town hall debate between Republican and Democratic candidates pre-nomination. The New York Times reports Monday night’s Democratic town hall was originally intended to be a one-on-one showdown between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. Both political camps were intrigued by the idea. The Bernie Sanders campaign was first to accept the invitation, followed by the Donald Trump campaign. However, the idea was “scrapped,” when the Trump camp bowed out citing “prior commitments.”

Fox executives then spearhead the idea of having an hour-long conversation, similar to the town hall format with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders only. Bret Baier was set to host this event as part of his ‘Special Report’ show. However, upon learning of the solo town hall, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton campaign reached out to Fox News and expressed interest in participating in a town hall with Sanders on the network. Initially, Clinton’s campaign rejected a prior invitation by the network but changed their minds after learning about Trump’s conflict of schedule and Sanders solo opportunity to sell his progressive message. Thus, this is how Fox News was able to score a town hall with Democratic candidates on a very conservative-leaning network.