Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a post-debate interview that former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley “lost her cool” while on stage Wednesday night.
“I think part of the fallout from tonight's debate was… she lost her cool,” DeSantis told CNN's Anderson Cooper after the fifth Republican debate, referring to Haley. “She always says, 'She's lying.' That's no good. Her record is her record.”
“She didn't try to explain why she was put in this position, and let me just say that, I don't think people would believe that,” he continued. “I think you need to be more substantive, and I think you need to be believable about how to be a candidate for a party that's really focused on workers and small businesses rather than big business. ” A veteran Republican. ”
DeSantis and Haley berated each other throughout the Republican debate hosted by CNN. It began just hours after former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wrapped up his campaign, at the same time that Fox News featured former President Trump in a town hall.
Haley frequently refers to a website called desantislies.com, which she claims DeSantis misrepresents her positions on issues.
“First of all, bless his heart. Desantislies.com. We've never raised taxes,” DeSantis said of trying to raise South Carolina's gas tax as governor. Haley said afterwards.
“You can say we've wasted the gas tax many times over. But what we said is, if you want to raise the gas tax, you have to cut the income tax by five times that amount. They didn't want to do it. We've wasted taxpayer money every step of the way,” she later added.
DeSantis also targeted Haley on other issues, including raising the retirement age for younger Americans.
“What we're doing is going to people in their 20s and saying we're going to change their retirement age to reflect their life expectancy. The cost of living is not going to increase, it's going to increase based on inflation. We will limit benefits to the wealthy and expand Medicare Advantage plans,” Haley said.
In response, DeSantis claimed, “Under her administration, cost-of-living adjustments for seniors will be reduced and taxpayers' money will be used to pay for the pensions of Ukrainian bureaucrats.'' Haley said, “That's not true.'' “No,” he interjected. That's a lie, Ron.
The Iowa caucuses are less than a week away. Although polls show Trump with a wide lead in the state, DeSantis and Haley have expressed confidence in their prospects.
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