While competing for second place in Iowa, DeSantis and Haley got into a heated exchange, with Haley trying to make her case about Trump more so than DeSantis.
The Associated Press said that DeSantis left Iowa in second place after Haley failed to perform as expected in their previous debate, which may have prompted the former governor of South Carolina to take this action.
“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” stated an ABC News representative.
The fate of CNN’s planned discussion on Sunday is uncertain in light of Haley’s vow to only participate in the event that Trump does as well.
“Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina,” said DeSantis on X. Truthfully, her goal is not the nomination but rather to become Trump’s vice president. I intend to keep my word and will not betray the people of New Hampshire as Donald Trump and Nikki Haley have done. This week in New Hampshire, I’m excited to debate two vacant podiums.
In a two-hour debate last week, Haley squared up against DeSantis. Some caucusgoers found it off-putting that Haley used name-calling and brought up a campaign-run website over a dozen times throughout the discussion.
