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DES MOINES, IA – With one week till the Iowa caucuses kick off the Republican presidential nominating calendar, Nikki Haley is a candidate on the rise.
But with her rise within the polls comes extra scrutiny for Haley, and extra incoming fire from her rivals for the GOP nomination and from President Biden.
On Monday, at a Fox News town hall hosted by “Special Report” chief political anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” govt editor and anchor Martha MacCallum, the previous South Carolina governor who served as ambassador to the United Nations in former President Donald Trump’s administration fired again.
Among her targets, Biden, who hours earlier knocked her for failing to point out slavery when answering a query in regards to the causes of the Civil War.
WHAT NIKKI HALEY SAID AT HER FOX NEWS TOWN HALL IN IOWA
Former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, joins Fox News’ Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum for a town hall, on Jan. 8, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“Let me be clear for those who don’t seem to know: Slavery was the cause of the Civil War,” the president mentioned hours earlier, as he gave a speech in Haley’s hometown. Biden spoke at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, a historic Black church the place 9 parishioners had been killed in a horrific 2015 taking pictures.
“Mother Emanuel Church is a sacred place,” Haley mentioned when requested to reply. “For Biden to show up there and give a political speech is offensive in itself.
And Haley stressed that “I do not want somebody who palled round with segregationists within the ’70s and has mentioned racist feedback during his profession lecturing me or anybody in South Carolina about what it means to have racism, slavery, or something associated to the Civil War.”
Biden came under criticism as he ran for the White House during the 2020 presidential cycle for speaking positively about two segregationist senators he had years earlier worked with in the Senate, as he noted that there was at least “some civility” in the chamber.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: THE PRESSURE’S ON FOR TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND HALEY TO PERFORM IN IOWA’S CAUCUSES
Haley also argued that “Biden must be fired” after the Pentagon failed to disclose that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been hospitalized for elective surgery, leaving the president in the dark for a couple of days. “This is unbelievable that we have now a state of affairs like this.”
“I have an issue with the truth that Biden shouldn’t be speaking to his secretary of Defense each single day anyway,” Haley stressed.
Haley has soared in recent months, thanks in part to her well-regarded performances in the first three Republican presidential primary debates. Over the past month she hs caught up with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the latest Iowa polls and in national surveys, for a distant second place behind Trump, who remains the commanding front-runner for the nomination as he makes his third straight White House run.
And Haley has surged to second place and narrowed the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second – just eight days after Iowa.
FIRST ON FOX: HALEY FUNDRAISING SOARS THE PAST THREE MONTHS
Trump and his political allies have increasingly taken aim at Haley in recent weeks. The Trump campaign and an aligned super PAC are running new ads that blast Haley over the combustible issue of border security and illegal immigration.
“Haley even opposed Trump’s wall and Haley repeatedly pushed amnesty for illegals,” the narrator in a new spot that started running Monday claimed. “Nikki Haley – too weak, too liberal, to repair the border.”
And the Trump campaign blasted out emails during the Fox News town hall targeting Haley over immigration, taxes and the support she’s received from some top dollar Wall Street donors.
Former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks with a member of the audience at a Fox News town hall, on Jan. 8, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Firing back, Haley argued “simply because President Trump says one thing would not make it true.”
“He’s mendacity about it,” she stressed. “And I’ll let you know the rationale he’s mendacity about it’s as a result of he’s taking snippets of issues I mentioned. I mentioned you should not simply do the border wall. You have to do greater than that. That’s what I mentioned.”
But Haley and her campaign take the increased attacks as a sign that Trump’s increasingly concerned about her upward mobility in the polls.
“I recognize all the eye President Trump is giving me. It is kind of candy and considerate of him,” she said.
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Trump and his allies aren’t the only ones taking aim at Haley. DeSantis and two super PACs aligned with his campaign are also training their fire on Haley.
A recent ad claims that Haley was inspired by former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who’s a popular target for Republicans.
“DeSantis is determined. He’s mendacity as a result of he’s shedding,” Haley charged. “I by no means mentioned Hillary Clinton was an inspiration.”
DeSantis joins Fox News Tuesday for a similar town hall, with Trump taking questions from Baier and MacCallum on Wednesday.
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