[FOX] CBS News reportedly reworked the format of its Saturday night Democratic debate agenda to focus more on terrorism, national security and foreign policy, in the hours following the deadly terror attacks in Paris.
Network executive Steve Capus told The New York Times late Friday that the adjustments were made during debate rehearsals in Des Moines, Iowa, after news broke about the deadly attacks.
| You can understand that CBS would feel the need to rehearse Hilarity and Bernie rather extensively on the topic of national security... |
"There is no question that the emphasis changes dramatically," said Capus, the network's executive editor and the executive producer of "CBS Evening News.'
The Islamic State jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the series of coordinated attacks in and around the French capital in which 127 people were killed. Another 200 people were critically injured, including some Americans, as a result of the attacks -- suicide bombings near France's national stadium and shooting at Paris cafes and a concert hall.
The debate is scheduled for 8 p.m. local time in the first-in-the-nation balloting state. It will feature frontrunning Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state; Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
Clinton has faced sharp criticism from Republicans and others for how, as the State Department's leader, handled the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed. |