The morning after former President Donald Trump cruised to victory over his rivals in the Iowa caucuses, Nikki Haley announced she would not participate in future debates that do not include Trump or President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, Haley said that Trump needs to stop “hiding” after he has skipped all five of the GOP primary debates so far.
“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign,” she said. “Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
Two debates have already been scheduled for the top contestants in the upcoming days. The first was to be held by ABC News on Thursday, and the second was scheduled for Sunday with CNN.
Trump, Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were likely to all be invited to participate in both with Trump likely opting to skip the events.
DeSantis has already accepted his invitations to participate in the debates. He denounced Haley’s decision in a statement posted on X, saying that she does not want to debate because she is afraid to answer “tough questions.”
DeSantis asserted that Haley is after an invitation to become Trump’s running mate instead of being focused on winning the GOP nomination.
“I won’t snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments. I look forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week,” DeSantis said.
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