5 memorable moments from the DeSantis-Haley debate

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley traded attacks in a heated debate Wednesday night ahead of next week's Iowa caucuses.

DeSantis and Haley were the only candidates on stage at the CNN debate in Des Moines, Iowa. Former President Trump, the only other candidate to qualify for the debate, chose instead to participate in a Fox News town hall as a backstage show in the same city.

The debate also took place hours after former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced he was ceasing his bid for the White House. With only a handful of candidates remaining in the race, DeSantis and Haley are trying to make their case to Iowa voters without alienating the support of Trump, who remains the state's front-runner. did.

Here are five memorable moments from the debate.

Haley repeatedly promotes 'DeSantis lies' on website

Haley directed voters 16 times to visit a website launched by her campaign that documented DeSantis' “lies.” When asked what her response was to DeSantis' discussion of her, Haley repeatedly deflected, pointing to her DeSantisLies.com as her response.

“What we're trying to do is instead of having him go and tell all these lies, he can go to DeSantislies.com and see all of them,” Haley said of the debate. I mentioned it at the beginning. “There are at least 20 more lies he has told about me, and you can see where the fact checkers will tell you exactly what's going to happen and why it's wrong.”

The website has a list of 21 topics that the Haley campaign classifies as “documented lies.”

“The more Ron DeSantis loses, the more he lies. Get the facts about Ron DeSantis' latest lies about Nikki Haley's record and his own record,” the website states. .

Haley slams DeSantis over campaign handling

Haley slammed the current state of DeSantis' campaign, claiming he has “nothing to show for it” despite spending millions of dollars on his campaign. Before speaking to him, she said, “The best way to learn about a candidate is to see how they campaign.”

“He burned through $150 million. I don't even know how he does that,” she said, referring to DeSantis.

“He has nothing to show for it. He has spent more money on private planes than commercials trying to get Iowans to vote for him. If he can't manage a campaign, how is he going to manage the country?” Is that so?'' Mr. Haley said, to applause.

DeSantis did not respond to Haley's criticism of his campaign, saying only that he was “proud to be ranked #1 economy in Florida by CNBC out of all 50 states.”

DeSantis pressures Haley on gas tax

DeSantis and Haley got into a heated argument over their home state's gas tax, with the Florida governor accusing Haley of trying to raise the state's gas tax when she was governor of South Carolina.

“That would be deflationary, so we're going to open up all the energy to production. You know, Nikki Haley, when she was governor, she promised never to impose a gas tax. . Then she tried to impose a gas tax on hard-working South Carolinians,” DeSantis said.

“The point is, we need to fly a flag with bold colors that puts the American people first, not the pale pastels of the warmed-up corporatism of people like Nikki Haley.” he continued.

Haley pushed him back and introduced viewers to DeSantislies.com again.

“So you could say we wasted the gas tax many times over. But what we said is, if you want to raise the gas tax, you have to reduce the income tax by five times that amount. . They didn't want to do it. We've been wasting taxpayers' money every step of the way,” she claimed.

Haley and DeSantis discuss President Trump's immunity claim

Both candidates echoed the argument of Trump's lawyers that Trump should be barred from prosecution on charges related to the 2020 election because he has “executive privilege.”

Earlier this week, Haley argued before a three-judge panel that Trump's lawyer, John Sauer, could prosecute the president if he orders SEAL Team 6 to kill political opponents unless the president is impeached and convicted. The government pushed back against the claim that it would be exempt from the law. First by the Senate.

“That's crazy. That's just ridiculous. You have to use common sense. You can't go and kill a political opponent and claim immunity from the president,” she said in response to the debate.

DeSantis also predicted that a federal appeals court would rule against Trump's claims of presidential immunity in the 2020 election interference case.

“Donald Trump is going to lose his case. He's going to end up being tried in front of a left-leaning D.C. jury made up of all Democrats. He can get through it. “What are the odds? … I don't think he'll be able to overcome that,” DeSantis said.

“So what are we going to do as Republicans in terms of who we nominate for president? If Trump is the nominee, then on January 6th, legal issues, criminal trials, etc. will be at stake. Democrats in the media want to support that. I'm not running for my issues. I'm running for your issues,” he said. continued.

Haley and DeSantis exchange attacks over Israel, foreign policy

In one of her attacks on the Florida governor, Haley criticized DeSantis for campaigning in Iowa as “the most anti-Israel Republican.”

“But for Ron to suddenly act like he cares about Israel when he brings to Iowa someone who is the most anti-Israel Republican in Iowa and who voted against Israel's right to exist in Congress? “It's really enriching to be someone who voted for the Squad Against Anti-Semitism on College Campuses,” she said.

“You took that person to Iowa and you campaigned with him,” she added.

Haley mentioned Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who last year sided with 18 Democrats in voting against a resolution that would respect U.S.-Israel relations and expand the Abraham Accords. was. DeSantis campaigned with Massey in Iowa last month, and Haley also criticized Massey at the time for his voting record.

DeSantis called the criticism “cheap garbage,” to which Haley responded, “That's right.”

Haley also attacked DeSantis over his stance on Ukraine, accusing him of flipping his position to support Trump. Meanwhile, DeSantis accused Haley of being a “carbon copy” of Biden's Ukraine policy.

“When President Obama was in office, he supported foreign aid to Ukraine, so no one knows what he believes. Now he wants to imitate Trump and support Ukraine. He's trying to act like it's not there,” Haley said of DeSantis.

“I supported President Trump's policy toward Russia, Ukraine, and it was successful. You know, Biden's policy is not that,” DeSantis responded. “But Nikki Haley is basically a carbon copy of Biden. It's an open-ended commitment. They want another $108 billion. They won't tell us when they hit their goal. And , and this will probably continue for hundreds of billions more into the future.”