The following is a transcript of an interview with 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., that aired on Jan. 21, 2024.
The following is a transcript of an interview with 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., that aired on Jan. 21, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to Face The Nation. The New Hampshire primary is just two days away. Can anyone stop the Trump steamroll towards the Republican nomination? We go now to former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is hoping to be the one to stop him. She’s on the campaign trail in Derry, New Hampshire. Good morning to you.
NIKKI HALEY: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: As you know, our CBS polling shows that you are the Republican candidate with the best chance at beating Joe Biden in a head-to-head race. And yet, Donald Trump is the party’s frontrunner. Why do you think, Ambassador, that the Republican establishment isn’t doing more to help you?
NIKKI HALEY: Well, I mean, this is what primaries are all about. This is about the fact that, you know, people get to decide which way they want to go forward. What I have said, as you can either pick more of the same, or you can go forward with the new generational leader. More of the same is, you know, the fact that you’ve got 70% of Americans don’t want to see a Trump-Biden rematch. More of the same as the fact that both of these presidents put us trillions of dollars in debt. And our kids are never going to forgive us for it. More of the same is the fact that we’re gonna have two presidential candidates in their 80s. That’s not what our kids want. That’s not what we should want. You know, more of the same is the fact that we can’t be a country in disarray and have a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it. We’ve got to get a new generational leader. I’m making my case to the people of New Hampshire. New Hampshire sees it for what it is, they know that responsibility, and we’re going to try and bring this home in two days.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well 26 Republican senators at this point and all of the House Republican leadership have lined up behind Donald Trump. Why? Are they afraid of him?
NIKKI HALEY: Not surprised at all. And I’ll tell you why. You’ll see a lot of the South Carolina legislature line up behind him too. And it’s because I’ve never really taken care of elected officials. You know, I’ve forced South Carolina legislature, they had to show their votes on the record. I made them pass ethics reform. I vetoed half a billion dollars worth of their pet projects. You look at Congress, what have I done? I said I want term limits. I said that I don’t think they should get paid if they don’t give us a budget on time. I’ve talked about mental competency tests. I call out elected officials because I think they need to be accountable to the people. I call out Republicans and Democrats when they don’t do the right thing. So it’s not surprising that that set is going towards Trump because he’s going to take care of them. I’m not going to do that. I’m going to take care of the taxpayers. I’ve always done that my entire career, and I’ll keep on doing it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Can you win in North Carolina- and excuse me- can you win in South Carolina?
NIKKI HALEY: I won twice as governor.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, as you just laid out, the South Carolina establishment is lining up behind Donald Trump. I want to ask you about something–
NIKKI HALEY: — I mean, I’ll remind you I was a tea party governor at the time, so I didn’t have the establishment when I ran for governor the first time. I ran against the Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, and a very popular congressman and I still won. And so it’s about being down on the ground with the people and I plan on doing that again.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Former President Trump on Friday, repeatedly and wrongly said that you were in charge of the January 6 security response at the Capitol, and he said your name four times. I want to play this for our viewers.
DONALD TRUMP: They never report the crowd on January 6, you know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley. You know, they- did you know, they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it. Because of lots of things like Nikki Haley, is in charge of security.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s unclear what he’s talking about as being deleted. But you said yesterday, hearing this made you question Donald Trump’s mental fitness.
