CNN Iowa town hall: Nikki Haley addresses recent campaign gaffes
January 05, 2024 10:50 AM
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was forced to address multiple controversial comments made in the waning days before the crucial Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses during her appearance at a CNN town hall Thursday night.
The former South Carolina governor responded to questioning from CNN host Erin Burnett about a major gaffe she committed the last week in December in which she didn’t name slavery as a cause of the Civil War. The flap led to severe backlash from top GOP rivals Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former President Donald Trump, along with attacks from President Joe Biden‘s reelection campaign.
“No one’s ever said that I am unwilling to offend. I offend plenty of people because I call people out when they do something wrong,” Haley first responded when Burnett brought up comments from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that Haley is unwilling to offend people with the truth. “I should have said slavery right off the bat.”
Haley then discussed how the Palmetto State teaches slavery and the Civil War in schools.
“I had black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina when it comes to, you know, slavery, when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War,” Haley continued. “I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have said slavery, but in my mind, that’s a given that everybody associates the Civil War with slavery.”
As a two-term South Carolina governor, Haley expounded on some of the most sensitive race matters she faced while in office, including the 2015 shooting of Walter Scott, a black man, by a white police officer and the nine deaths of black members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston that same year.
“The entire national media came in wanting to make it about gun control and racism and the death penalty. And I said at the time there will be a time and place we have those conversations, but right now, we have nine souls we need to lay to rest,” Haley said of the church shooting.
A month after the shooting, Haley signed legislation removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s Capitol, which she discussed during the town hall.
“I knew half of South Carolinians saw the Confederate flag as heritage and tradition. The other half of South Carolinians saw it as slavery and hate,” she said. “My job wasn’t to judge either side. My job was to get them to see the best of themselves and go forward. And South Carolinians showed what true strength and grace look like because we didn’t have protests. We had vigils. We didn’t have riots. We had prayer.”
On a lighter note, Haley also attempted to clean up recent comments she made in New Hampshire about the GOP primary schedule. “You know, Iowa starts it,” Haley said during a campaign event in the Granite State on Wednesday. “You know that you correct it … and then my sweet state of South Carolina brings it home.”
The comments led to a swift rebuke from DeSantis, whom Haley is battling for second place in the primary field behind Trump. DeSantis also held a CNN town hall Thursday night, one hour before Haley’s event began.
But Haley downplayed the remarks when speaking with Burnett. “We’ve done 150-plus town halls. You gotta have some fun, too,” said Haley, who was booed by Iowa audience members. Haley said three of the four early nominating states — Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — have a history of ribbing one another.
“We banter against each other on different things. New Hampshire makes fun of Iowa. I will make fun of South Carolina. It’s what we do,” Haley said. “I mean, I think the problem in politics now is, it’s just too serious and too dramatic. … I don’t live, eat, and breathe politics all the time. I like to have fun, too. And so if I’m hanging out with 700 people, and we’re trying to make jokes and have a good time, you should be able to do that.”
Fellow 2024 rival Vivek Ramaswamy took a jab at Haley’s remarks with CNN after she was asked to respond to the Thursday shooting at Perry High School in Iowa.
“Instead of living in fear, let’s do something about it. We have got to deal with the cancer that is mental health,” Haley said as she called for mental health reform.
The remarks were posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, and users, including Ramaswamy, slammed the former ambassador for the metaphor.
“I think she might’ve actually written this one herself,” Ramaswamy quipped.
Haley further called for more mental health treatment in schools for people who are showing signs of distress during her town hall. “One in 3 people have a mental health issue. But if treated, they can live a perfectly normal life,” she said. “What we see is 80% of mass shooters are in some sort of crisis at the time that they do that. We’ve got to do better.”
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“The problem is we don’t have enough mental health therapists. We don’t have enough mental health centers,” she added.
Haley and DeSantis will face off on Jan. 10 during CNN’s GOP primary debate. Trump, who qualified for the event, is skipping the debate and holding a town hall with Fox News at the same time as the debate.