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Haley Seeks To Clarify Civil War Comments As Backlash Mounts; Colorado GOP Appeals Trump Ban From State Ballot To Supreme Court; Border Patrol: 22K Migrants Arrested In Just One Sector Last Week. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 28, 2023 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Candidate cleanup, Nikki Haley taking heat for her answer to this question: "What caused the Civil War?" Her answer that confused some voters failed to mention slavery and now she's on the trail trying to clarify her comments.

Plus a group now taking the fight to keep Donald Trump on Colorado's ballot to the Supreme Court. The question remains, will the highest court in the land weigh in and when.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, a very productive meeting in Mexico. Top U.S. officials hinting that some sort of agreement has been reached between the two countries to tackle illegal border crossings. So could it help slow the surge?

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Today, Republican presidential contender, Nikki Haley, is trying to clear up or is it clean up comments that she made on the campaign trail yesterday? During a stop in New Hampshire, a voter called Haley out for not mentioning slavery when she was asked about the cause of the Civil War. Watch this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. I mean I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. And we - I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn't need to tell you how to live your life. They don't need to tell you what you can and can't do. They don't need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom. We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic freedom. We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties, so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. And then in the year 2023 it's astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery.

HALEY: What do you want me to say about slavery?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Facing backlash, Haley attempted to clarify her remarks today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY: Of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. That's unquestioned, always the case, we know the Civil War was about slavery. But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government.

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Joseph Bustos. He's a political reporter for the state, a daily newspaper published in Columbia, South Carolina.

Joseph, thank you so much for being with us.

She has been asked multiple times about the dynamics behind the Civil War. What has she said historically? Does it match up with what we heard here?

JOSEPH BUSTOS, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE STATE: Well, in 2010 when she was first running for governor of South Carolina, the state that started the Civil War, she told a group in South Carolina that it was about tradition versus change. That was the reason for slavery - for the Civil War. And she also was asked about the Confederate flag and it was about a represented heritage and it wasn't something that was racist.

KEILAR: Why doesn't she want to just say it outright, because there - I mean there - there's a reason politically why she isn't just being so clear? As we know that the answer here is actually pretty clear.

BUSTOS: I mean, South Carolina is a conservative state. It is ruby red. And in order to win that primary, you don't want to step on too many toes when it comes to that particular issue. Now, it's - she didn't come out for bringing down the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds until 2015 and after the shooting in - the Charleston church shooting, which killed black - nine churchgoers. So it's something that is still sometimes a sensitive issue.

[15:05:00]

We have Confederate memorials on the statehouse grounds. So it's still - it's something that's sometimes a bit sensitive here in South Carolina.

SANCHEZ: It's interesting to me, Joseph, that when she's initially asked the question, she sort of sarcastically remarks, oh, why don't you give me an easy question or something to that effect. For some folks, it is an easy question. It was slavery that led to the Civil War. I'm wondering how you think folks are receiving this news in South Carolina.

BUSTOS: What we saw from Democratic - the Democratic National chairman, Jaime Harrison, who's from South Carolina and the state party chairwoman, Christale Spain, they both are critical of Haley's comments for not saying slavery. A longtime political operative in South Carolina, Chip Felkel, said it was a major misstep.

But there's someone for backers like State Sen. Tom Davis, who said that this is really people just coming at her because she is climbing in the polls and in she's even now a solid second place in New Hampshire. She's clear second place in New Hampshire, which would be a key primary going into South Carolina's early primary on February 24th.

KEILAR: Yes. It says a lot about how she thinks she has to speak as she is navigating to try to attract as many voters as possible here. And Joseph, I wonder, you mentioned the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House. She does get credit for that when she was governor. That came after she had been opposed to it.

This is - I mean, it is tricky, as you mentioned, and her record on that has sort of been a little back and forth.

BUSTOS: It's an interesting issue that was happening in 2015 after the church shooting, lawmakers eventually decided to bring down the flag. Nikki Haley herself, when she was governor, could not unilaterally make that move, but her eventually coming out and saying she supported bringing down the flag did provide cover for some of those conservative lawmakers in South Carolina to eventually vote to bring the flag down.

KEILAR: Joseph, it's great to have you. Thank you so much for joining us.

BUSTOS: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: So we now have the first official challenge to so far, the only court ruling that bans Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot, the Colorado Republican Party appealing the decision made by the Colorado Supreme Court last week in a four to three decision, the state justices found that Trump could not be on Colorado's ballot because of the 14th Amendment, which bans insurrectionists from holding any office.

SANCHEZ: But the Colorado Republican Party says that ruling irreparably harms the party and its central committee wants the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in. The state party chair spoke to us in the last hour. Here's part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE WILLIAMS, CHAIRMAN, COLORADO REPUBLICAN PARTY: The fact that it's up to a political party to decide who we want to nominate and put forward to the voters and more importantly, it's up to the voters to decide on this issue, especially when there is no charge or conviction, especially when the 14th Amendment Section 3 is not a self executing provision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN Chief Legal Correspondent, Paula Reid, is with us. So Paula, tell us what the appeal itself says about the deadlines the Republican Party in Colorado is facing?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So we're still waiting for former president, Trump, to file his appeal. But here, the state Republican Party is filing an appeal to the Supreme Court because they've been involved in this case, and they've been advocating for their right to list Trump as a candidate in the election. And in their appeal to the Supreme Court, they're asking for the justices to resolve three questions. The first is this big question that's been litigated across multiple states with varying outcomes, can presidents be disqualified under the 14th Amendment that bars officials to engage in insurrection from holding future office.

Now, they also want answered, well, okay, if that is possible are states the entity that should execute that or should it require congressional action. And then they're also asking, hey, are you depriving political parties of their 1st Amendment right to select their own candidate if you allow this to happen.

Now, in their brief, they say, "By excluding President Trump from the ballot, the Colorado Supreme Court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the 1st Amendment right of the political parties to select the candidate of their choice.

Now, they are asking the court to weigh in before Super Tuesday, and if not by Super Tuesday, then at least by the end of the term and that is understandable because this is a question that has been hanging out there and we would like to have this resolved. I think, the entire country, right, before the election, because this is something that, again, it's been litigated across multiple states.

The question is still hanging out there in Maine and Oregon. We don't have decisions there. So a lot of people pressing the Supreme Court, there's increasing pressure for them to weigh in here. And right now, because the GOP appealed, even though Trump hasn't filed his appeal, this is now this decision from the Colorado Supreme Court on hold.

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So that means Trump will be on the primary ballot. And that's the biggest deadline that was coming up. Now we just wait to see if Trump appeals. He said he will. See if he appeals and also if the Supreme Court wants to weigh in here, but definitely a constitutional question that could use some clarification.

SANCHEZ: Yes. We will await that appeal.

Paula Reid, thank you so much. Let's discuss further now with CNN Senior Political Commentator, Adam Kinzinger. He's a former U.S. congressman and he served on the House Select January 6th Committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

What do you make of the Colorado Republican Party going to bat for Trump and appealing his ban from the state ballot?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, it's obviously no surprise the party is really - it's Trump's party now. I mean, he owns all the mechanisms of it. They believe that he was wrongfully taken off the ballot.

And I think what's obvious here is I think each side can make a compelling argument when they're speaking. It's just going to have to go to the Supreme Court. I think it shows a failure of our political system to an extent that we keep having to go now to the Supreme Court to answer these questions and we can't do it in-house, so to speak, within democracy, within our republic. We have to keep having the Supreme Court make a decision.

But that's what it's going to come down to and I have no idea which way they're going to go. But ultimately, their word will have to be the final and have repercussions throughout future history of America, because that will determine what the 14th Amendment does and doesn't allow.

KEILAR: We were just talking about Nikki Haley and how she's embroiled in this controversy over her answer about - initial answer about what caused the Civil War and her failure to mention slavery. What do you think about how she handled that and how she's cleaning it up?

KINZINGER: Well, look, I think if she'd have said, look, it was a long day. I mean, we've all - public speaking, doing like town halls, we've all been in positions where we've kind of lost our train of thought and maybe you kind of wandered a little bit or didn't answer the question. I think if she'd have come out and said something like that, it would be a little more understandable.

But I think the real question, look, I have no doubt that Nikki Haley knows that the Civil War was over slavery. The question here is did she simply not say it because she thought it was a given, which is kind of what she's implying or was it a real attempt to say, man, I might take off part of the Republican base.

That's my concern is that she held back straight condemning slavery and saying that it was what it was and the Civil War was what it was because she's afraid of losing some votes in the critical state of South Carolina, for instance. And only she knows in her heart the truth on that, but this was a very, very bad thing for her to say and I'm certain it's going to have an impact. And I think she needs to do a better job cleaning it up than just like, oh, of course, that was a Democratic plan or it could have been a Democratic plan.

The question was very simple, what was the Civil War over, and she could have said preserving the union and slavery and would have been a fine answer.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Congressman, the political group that you founded, Country First, has been a strong supporter of Chris Christie's presidential bid. He's been getting a lot of pressure, as I'm sure you're aware, to drop out of the race so that the anti-Trump and more moderate Republican voters can sort of rally around an alternative, most likely, Nikki Haley, who seems to be soaring in the polls is the given thought from some Republican experts. Instead of dropping out, though, he just bought a new seven figure set of ads in New Hampshire. We want to play you a portion of one of those ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some people say I should drop out of this race. Really? I'm the only one saying Donald Trump is a liar. He pits Americans against each other. His Christmas message to anyone who disagrees with him, rot in hell. He caused a riot on Capitol Hill. He'll burn America to the ground to help himself. Every Republican leader says that in private. I'm the only one saying it in public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Christie has effectively sort of backed off of Iowa in that race, but in New Hampshire, where he stands the best chance of winning, how close does the race need to be between him and Donald for him to stay in and have a chance?

KINZINGER: Well, I mean, it's his decision. I haven't endorsed him, but we thought it was very important through my group to make sure he's on the ballot. He has access to the debates because he's the only one out there telling the truth, just like his ad said. I thought that was very effective.

And I think if there's pressure - if there should be pressure on anybody to drop out in New Hampshire, frankly, it's Ron DeSantis. I kind of forget he's in the race even anymore.

And so I think Christie's going to stay in because he's right. He is the one telling the truth. He's doing it aggressively and he occupies a unique lane that there's, frankly, many of us who at least are in the party or used to be in the party need to hear from. And, frankly, people that are brainwashed need to hear from. I think the pressure should be on DeSantis.

We'll see what Nikki Haley ends up doing after this gaffe, if that affects her or not.

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But I think ultimately, I don't know if New Hampshire is going to make the difference in this party, but it's probably the one shot to take down Donald Trump, at least in an early state primary.

KEILAR: Yes, a lot of moving parts as we move in on that date.

Congressman, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

KINZINGER: Yes, anytime. You bet.

KEILAR: Still ahead, Mexico's president says there's an agreement on one way to help address the migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border. We'll have details on what that is and whether it will help curb the surge.

SANCHEZ: And Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, set to travel to Israel next week to talk next steps in the war with Hamas. This as Israeli forces expand their operation into central Gaza.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just a few moments.

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KEILAR: This just in to CNN, the Justice Department has threatened to sue Texas over its new immigration law, Senate Bill 4. Abbott - Texas governor, Abbott, signing that bill into law earlier this month. It gives local law enforcement the power to arrest migrants as a state offense. It also gives judges the ability to issue orders to remove them from the U.S.

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The White House slammed the law, calling it incredibly expensive. It is expected to take effect in March.

Staying on the issue of immigration, U.S. and Mexican leaders saying they are feeling good about their meeting over the crisis at the southern U.S. border, calling the talks very productive. Discussions will continue when Mexican leaders come to the U.S. next month to meet with Biden cabinet members. Mexico's president saying today an agreement has already been reached to reopen U.S. border crossings that had been shut down due to the migrant surge.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, CNN cameras captured this scene this morning at the Eagle Pass border crossing. Those massive lines of migrants from just days ago now gone. But in the Del Rio sector, border officials there say there were more than 22,000 migrant apprehensions last week, 2,000 were apprehended yesterday.

CNN's Rosa Flores is live for us in Eagle Pass with more on how this new agreement could bring about a shift.

Rosa, what are you learning about that agreement?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This agreement actually could make a difference and we could see the difference on the ground and here's how, Boris: whatever Mexico decides to do or not do, it directly impacts the number of illegal crossings into the United States. There's no question. And what we've learned from a National Security Council spokesperson is that Mexico has made significant law enforcement actions. Now, we don't know the details of what those actions are. But from experience, what I can tell you that Mexico has done in the past is sometimes they post National Guard members on their border or they up deportations or they move migrants who are on the border further to central Mexico or southern Mexico or sometimes they install checkpoints in La Bestia, which is the train rail system in Mexico, which is used by migrants to move very quickly from southern Mexico to northern Mexico.

All of these actions have an impact as to the number of migrants that get to the northern Mexican border and then eventually cross into the United States. And so that's one of the things that is a clear signal of what could happen. And we're going to see what else comes out of these deals and talks.

Now, you were showing pictures from today. And if you look behind me, you can see that there are no migrants behind me. And so you might be thinking, wait, is that an actual crisis or not? Well, the federal government has gotten really good at something called decompression. They move migrants from an area that is saturated to an area that has processing space. That's what we're seeing.

And as you mentioned, yesterday there was about 7,000 migrant apprehensions on the U.S. southern border. About 2,000 of them were here in the Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, where I am.

And if you just think about those numbers, about 2,000 here just in this area. And you still don't see any migrants behind me, again, because this is the federal government moving these migrants to areas to process them as quickly as possible. Mexico's president also saying that there was some sort of agreement to reopen ports of entry.

And Boris and Brianna, we've been talking about this a lot, ports of entry are very important for legal trade and travel. And that what is - what has been snarled because of the response to this latest surge and both countries now trying to figure out ways to make sure that the number of illegal entries drop so that they can free those resources and reopen the ports of entry. Back to you, guys.

KEILAR: All right. Rosa, thank you for that look there from the border.

Several big city mayors say they need the Biden administration to step up and help with their city's local migrant crises. Chicago, New York and Denver putting pressure on the federal government to help figure out a way to process thousands of asylum seekers being bused or flown to their cities by Texas governor, Greg Abbott. Chicago's mayor says the situation in his city is quickly deteriorating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, CHICAGO: As buses continue to arrive in the city of Chicago and all over the country, the type of chaos that has been administered has left many of our local economies under a tremendous amount of duress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Brian Hopkins is a Chicago alderman. He says the migrant crisis is starting to create serious issues in his district.

Alderman, tell us what you're seeing.

BRIAN HOPKINS, CHICAGO ALDERMAN: We're seeing communities destabilized. We're seeing an influx of new residents who simply don't have a place to reside. The impact of the local shelters is having a detrimental effect on the quality of life for local residents. We're seeing crime go up. Property values go down. It's creating a political crisis as well as stress between communities and it's simply unsustainable.

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The mayor's right in his call, we need immediate relief from the federal government. The report we just heard from your reporter in the field in Texas using the term decompression to describe some of the areas that have been under extreme stress. We desperately need decompression in Chicago. We've got 30,000 migrants we simply can't handle anymore. We're not equipped for it.

KEILAR: What do you think that would look like, decompression in Chicago?

HOPKINS: Well, I think it would - first of all, it would result in the ability to put some of them to work. Many of the migrants that are here, they plan to stay here. They'd like to have permanent housing. They need to support themselves.

They need the ability to get temporary work visas. That's something that the federal government has to get out of the way for the people that are here and want a traditional path to a better life that so many people in generations past came to America seeking. That would be the first step.

The other step is an assistance in providing permanent housing for them. We have people living in bus terminals at O'Hare airport right now. We had 8,000 people living in the lobbies of police. We have tents which won't work, by the way for a climate like Chicago, if you lived your whole life in Venezuela, you're in for a shock if you think you can live in a tent in January in Chicago. And we have people that seem poised on the brink of having to do that. We need assistance to get them into permanent housing and permanent jobs if they're going to stay here.

KEILAR: Yes. We see people arriving and they don't even have proper winter coats and that is just not even accounting for living outside, of course.

You're asking for federal help. You've seen New York pressing for federal help. They did get some federal help. They didn't feel that it was enough. Do you want state help as well and how much federal help do you need? HOPKINS: Yes, we've had some state assistance. Recently, the state of Illinois has stepped up to the plate and they're providing some assistance. And some of the federal money we are getting are the form of state pass-through grants.

But I thought it was notable that in this recent effort, our mayor of Chicago joined with the mayor of Denver and the mayor of New York, of course, home to Ellis Island for all those years. It bears mentioning right now where you have these municipal government leaders, one from the state of New York, talking about the fact that migration has never been a municipal responsibility. All those years that Ellis Island operated, 60 years, 20 million immigrants came through and passed the Statue of Liberty, not a single one of them got here and said, all right, I need help from the local municipal city. I need them to provide me with housing and cash assistance and food.

This has never been a city responsibility and for the federal government to advocate its duty now and make it one is unconscionable.

KEILAR: You hear about these meetings that Biden administration officials are having with Mexico. It sounds - pardon me - it sounds very promising as they're describing the agreements that are coming out of this meeting. But what is your message to them as they are meeting with Mexico?

HOPKINS: I have to be optimistic. I'm a Democrat, but I'll say the Biden administration has absolutely dropped the ball. I'm not going to let them off the hook. They have left us in the ditch with this and that's unacceptable.

What I'm hearing now is encouraging. We needed to hear this a year ago. When this crisis first started in Chicago, we had a trickle that led to a torrent. And now we're spending $300 million of our own funds. That's about 5 percent of our federal municipal budget to address a problem that didn't even exist a year and a half ago. Where's the federal government been? Where has the Biden administration been?

It's not too late to do the right thing, but every day that goes by, while we let the border remain open and while we let cities try to address this humanitarian crisis, it gets worse by the day and I've lost patience, as you could probably tell.

KEILAR: Yes. No, it's very apparent. And the thing is, you are certainly not the only one. That is also very apparent.

Alderman Brian Hopkins, thank you so much for being with us today.

HOPKINS: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: The Israel Defense Forces warning people in central Gaza to leave now while its operations against Hamas continue there. Ahead, how the ongoing offensive could impact the ongoing talks to free remaining hostages.

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