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Watch top moments in Nikki Haley’s Iowa town hall, from torching Trump to defending recent comments

Watch top moments in Nikki Haley’s Iowa town hall, from torching Trump to defending recent comments

Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had a number of stand-out moments during her appearance at an Iowa town hall hosted by CNN on Thursday. Haley addressed how she plans to overtake former President Trump, the clear front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination, as well as addressing recent controversial statements she made on the campaign trail regarding slavery and the Iowa caucuses. When asked how she planned to overtake Trump, who continues to hold a commanding lead in the polls despite Haley’s recent surge in New Hampshire and Iowa, the former South Carolina governor pointed to how many of the same polls indicate she would triumph in a one-on-one matchup with President Biden. POLL REVEALS ALARMING LEVEL OF FEAR OF WHETHER 2024 ELECTIONS WILL BE ‘FAIR,’ BALLOT COUNTING ACCURATE “I defeat Biden by 17 points,” Haley said, referencing one recent poll and noting it showed she would perform better than Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another Republican candidate, in a hypothetical November contest against Biden. “If you win by double digits, you go into Washington with a mandate… It is time to move past President Trump.” Haley argued that “chaos follows” Trump and that she would be the generational leader “that leaves negativity and baggage behind.” However, she later defended her intention to pardon Trump should he be convicted of any crime, and said some of the prosecutions the former president is currently facing in Georgia, Washington, D.C. and New York were “politically motivated.” “I used to tell him he’s his own worst enemy,” Haley said, after stating that Trump would “have to answer” for some of the charges he faces, but without specifying which ones. RFK, JR. MEETS REQUIREMENTS TO APPEAR ON FIRST 2024 GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT AS CAMPAIGN SEASON HEATS UP When asked about the worsening crisis at the southern border, Haley called Biden’s handling of the situation was “truly a dereliction of duty,” and slammed his administration’s efforts to combat Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s actions to secure his state from the masses of migrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande. “Are you kidding me?” she said in reaction to Biden’s efforts to remove razor wire placed at the border to prevent passage.  Haley added that a Haley administration would implement a national e-verify program to ensure businesses weren’t hiring illegal immigrants, defund sanctuary cities, “once and for all,” reinstate the remain in Mexico policy implemented by Trump, and “catch and deport” rather than “catch and release.” MAINE DEMOCRAT WHO BARRED TRUMP FROM BALLOT SAID VOTER ID LAWS ‘ROOTED IN WHITE SUPREMACY’ She went on to praise Abbott’s bussing migrants to sanctuary cities, but avoided giving DeSantis credit for doing the same despite being directly asked.  Haley was later asked about how she declined to mention slavery as the reason for sparking the Civil War during a town hall event last month. She reiterated that she made a mistake by not mentioning it. She explained that, as a southerner, she looks past the issue of slavery and race because of its prevalence in southern history and how southerners are exposed to it from an early age, but that she still should have mentioned slavery first. Continuing on the discussion of race, she touted her handling of the shooting of an unarmed Black man by a police officer in South Carolina in 2015 while she was governor, and noted that riots like those in Ferguson, Missouri that same year didn’t take place because of the relationship building she did with police and the community. Haley also defended her recent comments on the Iowa caucuses that although the state “starts” the nominating process, New Hampshire will “correct it.” The suggestion lead to sharp criticism from her Republican opponents. “We banter against each other… It’s what we do,” Haley said. “I think the problem in politics now is it’s too serious and too dramatic.”  “I have been coming here for months… You are going to see me fight until the very end of the last day in Iowa,” she said. “If I didn’t love Iowa, I wouldn’t keep coming to Iowa.”  Said added that she would probably joke about New Hampshire while in Iowa in the coming days. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Watch DeSantis’ top moments on Trump, Biden, immigration from Iowa town hall: ‘Leaders got to lead’

Watch DeSantis’ top moments on Trump, Biden, immigration from Iowa town hall: ‘Leaders got to lead’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touched on a variety of issues during a CNN town hall in Iowa on Thursday night, criticizing former President Trump for failing to follow through on 2016 promises and hitting President Biden’s record. DeSantis took aim at Trump and told the crowd that Republicans “crashed and burned” in 2022. “Donald Trump’s handpicked candidates lost because the Democrats have a playbook that they can run,” DeSantis said. “You don’t want it to be a referendum on Trump and the past. You want it to be a referendum on Biden’s failures, on our positive vision for this country. I offer that.” “You need somebody that can serve two terms. You’re going to go in there as a lame duck president, even if you could get elected,” DeSantis continued. “I don’t think that that’s how it works there. We need a change agent in Washington. We need somebody who’s going to go in there, actually unwind the bureaucracy, which Trump promised to do and didn’t do. We need a president that’s going to stop the border invasion by building a wall, which Trump promised to do but didn’t do.” DeSantis criticized Trump for running on the same platform he ran on in 2016, without accomplishing his goals as president. “When I tell you I’m going to do something, you can take it to the bank,” DeSantis said. “I’m going to do it.” DESANTIS CAMPAIGN ACCUSES HALEY OF ‘INSULTING’ IOWANS BY SAYING NH WILL ‘CORRECT’ CAUCUS RESULTS DeSantis also hit Trump on abortion saying “of course” the former president is not pro-life. “When you’re saying that pro-life protections are a terrible thing, by definition, you are not pro-life. When you say that you want to have a federal law at 18 weeks or 20 weeks that would override a state like Iowa that has enacted, pro-life protections, that would mean more abortions, not less abortions, because very few abortions are happening that late anyways,” DeSantis explained. “So he has flip-flopped on this issue.” “I don’t know if it’s because of political convenience or this is all where he always believed in. But here’s the thing. Some issues are pretty fundamental. How do you flip-flop on something like the sanctity of life?” DeSantis spoke about the illegal immigration crisis and specifically how fentanyl is pouring across the border and killing Americans. “How many fentanyl deaths are enough, are we just supposed to sit here and let this happen?” DeSantis said. “I think a president not only has a right, I think you have a responsibility to fight back against these people.” “I am sick and tired of seeing the carnage in this country and in my travels through Iowa I’ve met angel parents, people that have lost kids to fentanyl overdose. And a lot of times these are not drug addicts. These are maybe a college student that is stressed out during exams. So they buy a pill thinking it’s going to help them get through the night and it turns out it’s laced with fentanyl. That could be enough to poison that student to death. And so this is shattering families. It’s shattering communities. The people in D.C., they just shrug their shoulder. They could care less about what’s going on.” DeSantis touched on the foreign policy record of Joe Biden slamming him for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan which he says sent a clear message to America’s enemies abroad. OVER 500 ELECTED OFFICIALS HAVE ENDORSED DESANTIS AS PRESIDENTIAL BATTLE HEATS UP AHEAD OF IOWA CAUCUSES “How he left Afghanistan was a total disgrace,” DeSantis said. “I mean, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of veterans who’ve served over there. To see all that weaponry and all that stuff over there just taken by the Taliban, 13 people killed, that was humiliating for this country. But that sent a signal to people like Russia, to Iran, that now is the time to be able to start acting out.” “When I’m president, it’s going to be totally different. You know, we’re going to lay down very clear markers and people are going to know, don’t mess with the USA.” DeSantis was asked about gay marriage in the context of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently saying that he was wrong about gay marriage in the past. “I respect the Supreme Court’s decision,” Desantis said. “We’ve abided by that in Florida, even though our [state] constitution defines it as between a man and a woman. But I think what we need to recognize is, you know, you are going to have people try to wield power against our religious institutions and try to marginalize them simply by upholding the biblical definition. And so I’m going to protect those religious institutions to be able to do what has always been done in terms of how they consider marriage as a sacrament.” DeSantis also touted his ability to work across the aisle, especially in the case of national disasters. He even credited Biden with not politicizing Hurricane Ian, which caused major damage in Florida last September. NEWSOM, DESANTIS DEBATE GETS HEATED OVER COVID, TAX POLICIES: ‘YOU DID A LOT OF DAMAGE’ “As president, when we have these national disasters I don’t care if it’s a Republican governor like Kim Reynolds, who I’m very close with, or a liberal governor like [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, who I’ve got some differences with, when you have these situations, leaders got to lead and you got to put politics aside.” DeSantis’ town hall appearance came less than 2 weeks ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the GOP’s 2024 nominating cycle. The Florida governor is currently polling at 18.6% in the Hawkeye State, according to the Real Clear Politics average, which trails Trump who leads at 51.3% and is just ahead of rival Nikki Haley, who sits at 16.1%.