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Nikki Haley Addresses Reporters; New Hampshire Heads to the Polls; Fergus Cullen is Interviewed about the New Hampshire Primary. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 23, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

QUESTION: You think that your campaign has a future?

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, when we come in and we start the day, and there were 13, 14 candidates in this race -

GOV. CHRIS SUNUNU (R-NH): That's right.

HALEY: I didn't get here because of luck. I got here because I outworked and I outsmarted all the rest of those fellas. So, I'm running against Donald Trump. And I'm not going to talk about an obituary just because y'all think we have to talk about it. I'm going to talk about running the tape and saving this country.

I think we have to do it. I'm a fighter. I work hard. And I do it because I love this country. And we're going to go on fighting until the very last poll closes, and then we're headed to my sweet state of South Carolina and we're going to make the case there as well.

SUNUNU: And if I may, six weeks ago none of you predicted Nikki Haley was going to be the only candidate standing. She's already exceeded expectations, already had a strong showing here. The sky's the limit. And to go into her home state with all that momentum, that's just an amazing opportunity.

QUESTION: Governor, you've been ramping up your attacks on Donald Trump. Do you think he is mentally fit to hold the presidency again?

HALEY: I think he's mentally fit. The problem is, do you want two 80- year-olds running for president? I mean, seriously. In the military you have to retire at 65. You know, you don't have surgeons doing surgery at 80. There's multiple things. It's just a fact that people start to decline. And when you've got a country in disarray and a world on fire the way we do, you need someone at the top of their game that can put in eight years, that can go and get things back on track. That's what this is about, is making sure that we have the best person, not settling for the fact that, you know, two 80-year-olds running for president.

But more than that, 70 percent of Americans have said they don't want a Trump/Biden rematch. So, let's give them a choice. Let's give them some options. This is about giving them a new generational leader that's going to secure our border, that's going to get our economy back on track, that's going to get back to the basics in education, is going to bring law and order back to our country, but is also going to deal with these wars around the world so that America is safe and we're preventing war from going further.

GEN. DON BOLDUC: May I -

QUESTION: Governor, do you feel like you've had to play on the defense here in New Hampshire because of Trump's attacks?

HALEY: I haven't had to play on the defense. No. To me it's all been about making my case to voters on the fact that, can you see it? Can you picture what this could be like? Can you imagine a country where we don't have the chaos, where we don't have the vengeance, where we don't have the negativity? Can you feel it? Can you say it? Do you want it? That's what this has always been the case is, that we want Americans to know, they deserve better.

And so, you know, whether we've been talking with the general about what it takes to get the conservative voters to realize, look, we can fight just as tough and get it done without the negativity, or whether it's with the governor, who knows this state has a relationship with everybody voter and say, look, we know what you're feeling, and we know what it takes to relate to you. That's why we've been in every diner, in every brewery, and everyplace else is to make them know that, look, we feel you, but we're going to make your life better.

BOLDUC: Nikki's going to unify. Nikki is going to unify us. Donald Trump is a bridge burner. She's a bridge builder. That's a big thing. And that's what you need to focus on. This is about unifying America. And that's the big point. And that's the big difference. Biden and Trump are two sides of the same coin, divisive, grievance, investigations. This is not good for America, period.

QUESTION: But the party is uniting behind -

HALEY: And what Donald Trump has shown is - Donald Trump has shown he's good at breaking things. But you've got to have somebody that can fix things too.

BOLDUC: That's right.

HALEY: And that's the situation we're in. We've got a lot to fix.

QUESTION: Governor, you're wearing a -

QUESTION: The party is behind - uniting behind former President Trump. You say you're showing a message of unity. How do you square those two things?

SUNUNU: They haven't even voted here yet. They haven't even voted here yet. You can't say that.

HALEY: No, but I think - I think it's not the party uniting around President Trump, it's the political elite that are uniting around President Trump.

SUNUNU: That's - that's right. That's it.

HALEY: And the political elite have never been with me my entire career because I've always fought the political elite. It's why I want them to have term limits. It's why I want them to have mental competency tests. It's why I think that they're -- I call them out on wasteful spending, whether they're a Republican or a Democrat. It's why I've said, if you can't give Americans a budget on time, you shouldn't get paid.

I fight the political class. Donald Trump has the political class surrounding him. That's not what Americans want. The political class has gotten us into this mess. We need a normal, real person to get us out of this mess.

BOLDUC: Go ahead, ma'am.

QUESTION: Governor, you're wearing a homemade bracelet. Do you mind telling us a little bit about that.

HALEY: This is so -- I have had so many little girls give me friendship bracelets. This one says "President Nikki." And a little girl gave it to me. And I've got - I wish you could see in my hotel room the stacks of these little bracelets that I've gotten.

And, look, I mean, at the end of the day, that's what this is all about, right? It's - I've always said strong girls become strong women. Strong women become strong leaders. But to see the girls that came to town halls and their dads brought them because they wanted to see me. And then because of them, we earned their dad's support, it's something special. I want girls to know that, look, how blessed are we to live in a country that you can grow up and be anything you want to be and government not get in the way - and get in the way.

[09:05:00]

That's what I hope I take from it.

This is such a reminder of like why I'm doing this. So, it matters.

I want - I don't want my kids to live like this and I don't want anybody else's kids to live like this. Our country is better than what we're dealing with right now. Let's - let's stop the chaos and let's go forward.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: Does it feel - feel full circle for you?

HALEY: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Does this feel like a full circle moment for you having run in South Carolina, be behind in the polls, lagging in fundraising?

HALEY: I've never known what it's like to not be the underdog. I think that, you know, when I ran against the longest serving legislator in a primary in South Carolina, no one was with me, and we won. And when I ran against an attorney general, lieutenant governor and a congressman, no one was with me, but we had the people with us and we won.

Now we're doing this again. I don't expect the political elitists in the - in the media necessary to be with me. At the end of the day, I want the people of New Hampshire. That's what we're fighting for. That's what we want. It's the normal people I want. That's always been what I want to fight for.

QUESTION: Governor, what's your closing message to the DeSantis voters, who dropped out this weekend? What's your message to them as they go to the polls today.

HALEY: I know you love America too. And I know you want a new generational leader. And I know you want someone that is going to deliver results for you and get all of the woke stuff out and get all the noise out and get back to the basics of what government was supposed to be. Government's intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It's never meant to be all things to all people. This is the live free or die state. Let's make it a live free or die country.

Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

(CROSS TALK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so there you see it, and you heard it, Nikki Haley making a last-minute appeal to voters in New Hampshire to vote for her. And she was reiterating several strong lines she's made in recent days that the American people don't want two 80-year-olds running for the presidency right now. She says a new generation is definitely needed. And she says it's important that the people vote for someone who can serve not necessarily just one term but two terms, eight years, as president of the United States.

We're watching her very, very closely.

We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Our special coverage of the first in the nation primary in New Hampshire continues. I'm Wolf Blitzer in New York.

Right now polls are open at least parts of the granite state. Take a look at this. A live look at Nashua, New Hampshire. The small community of Dixville Notch was the first to cast their ballots overnight. All six, only six, all six registered voters putting their support behind Nikki Haley.

John Berman, Sara Sidner, Kate Bolduan are all continuing our live coverage from Manchester, New Hampshire, this morning.

Let's go to them right now.

Set the scene for us, guys. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I think what we just saw there with

Nikki Haley is quintessential New Hampshire, at least what New Hampshire maybe used to be and has been until this point, a freewheeling moment on the trail.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BERMAN: Nikki Haley there at a polling location in Hampton, out by the beach, taking as many questions from reporters as they could almost deliver. That's what traditionally you have had to do in New Hampshire to appeal to voters. You go to town meeting after town meeting, talk to as many people as possible.

I think things feel a little different this time. And one of the things I think that we've heard from Nikki Haley supporters as we went to events last night and elsewhere is that maybe they would have liked to have seen more unplugged moments like this.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Chris Sununu, the governor, who was with her, he's unplugged all the time.

BOLDUAN: I was just going to say, no matter what, I want Chris Sununu energy all the time. I'm just - I'm here for the Chris Sununu energy. And we're not promising we're going win 350,000 to zero. That's a good - that's a good measure to begin with, I guess.

BERMAN: No -

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, he did make the point, that she is right now winning because of the six people in Dixville Notch. Technically speaking, she has all six votes in Dixville Notch. But, obviously, there's a lot more voters.

BERMAN: She should talk to president Mike Bloomberg, who, I think, won Dixville Notch in the Democratic primary four years ago.

BOLDUAN: Oh, yes.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Exactly right.

Let's talk about who she is speaking to. She's reiterating a lot of the message that we heard - we heard last night going to probably -- Nikki Haley's kind of final campaign event. Big crowd, overflow, stop people from getting in. I talked to some voters come -- a handful of voters as they were leaving the Nikki Haley event and the general consensus that they are either registered Republican or undeclared. And general consensus was, they like Nikki for what she said. They like Nikki Haley because she said normalcy.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: They're ready for the grown-ups to return for the room. They -- a lot of them voted for Trump at least once, maybe - and some of them voted for Trump twice, but said that they're ready to move forward. And where the struggle came in, in my conversation was when, if it comes down to Donald Trump versus Joe Biden, what do you do? And that's where I heard some struggle amongst voters.

SIDNER: Yes, they're -- difficult. But I think you're hearing that message of, I'm going to bring a bridge and not break things. I'm going to bring normalcy and not chaos. She's been doing that in ads. She's been doing it on the trail. It is the constant message that she's putting out there, and voters seem to like it.

[09:10:04]

BERMAN: All right, it will be interesting to see if we see or hear more from her today. She may crisscross the state, go to these polling locations.

BOLDUAN: Why not?

BERMAN: Why not. Do everything you can.

All right, Wolf, we she continues to speak, we'll go back to you.

BLITZER: All right, guys, we'll stay in very, very close touch.

I want to stay out there near the polls in New Hampshire. Kylie Atwood is in Hampton. That's where we just heard from Nikki Haley. Alayna Treene is in Nashua.

Kylie, let me get your sense right now. You were there as Nikki Haley was making her statement, speaking to reporters, speaking to the press, but really speaking to the people in New Hampshire right now. What are you hearing from voters?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, what voters are saying depends on who they're heading into the polls and voting for today. We've talked to Haley supporters. We've talked to Trump supporters. It's really hard to tell where this is all headed.

But Nikki Haley, for her part, coming here to the first polling stop of her day and projecting a sense of optimism. I asked her about former President Trump saying last night that she's probably going to drop out today. And she said with a smile, as she often does, that she has never done what Trump tells her to do. She's not going to do what the former president tells her to do. And said that she's, you know, she's in this for the long haul. Of course, that is all really dependent on how thing goes here in New Hampshire.

In terms of her predictions for today, her campaign's predictions for today, they really aren't being specific about what they need to do here in New Hampshire in order to keep her campaign alive. She said once again, just hear today, that she wants to do stronger here in New Hampshire than she did in Iowa. But there's a lot of room to move within that - within that because she came in 30 points behind Trump in New Hampshire - in Iowa. And so there are questions about what things look like if she doesn't come within real close proximity to the former president here.

Now, the other, you know, just fun thing. I mean she's out on the campaign trail. Nikki Haley has been really hitting it hard going to coffee shops, going to pubs and all of that. She said she's wearing one of the friendship bracelets that one of the young girls gave her out on the campaign trail. She's really trying to connect with the people, make the case that she's going to unite the people. But, of course, we're watching the Republican Party coalesce behind Trump.

BLITZER: And she made it clear in her remarks that we just heard here on CNN, she's going all the way. She's not going to just stop in New Hampshire. She's going to her home state of South Carolina, which is coming up fairly soon. And she's determined to keep on fighting.

Stand by, Kylie, we're going to get back to you.

Alayna Treene is watching all of this. She's on the scene for us in New Hampshire as well.

Give our viewers a sense, Alayna, what you're seeing and what you're hearing.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: All right. Well, good morning, Wolf.

I've actually spoken with a handful of voters already as they had exited the polling station here in Nashua. And the majority of them actually told me that they are voting for - or they voted for Nikki Haley. A couple of them said that the reason they wanted to vote for Haley was because they are anti-Trump. And that if Donald Trump were actually to go on and win the Republican nomination, they would consider voting for Joe Biden in November.

I also talked to another voter, her name was Theresa (ph), who said that she had voted for Biden in the last presidential election, but today she came in and voted for Nikki Haley. And se also said that even if it were a race between Haley and Biden, rather than Trump and Biden, she would still vote for Joe Biden.

And I think that was really interesting because it emphasizes how the New Hampshire primary works. Undeclared voters are able to participate in this primary. And so we're seeing some of them come through this station today.

Now, I talked to some of the election officials. Polls opened at 6:00 a.m., but they said they've seen around a couple hundred people already come through here. And they've come up. They've gotten their ballots, or registered if they hadn't, and then they went through -- voted behind some curtains, so they had privacy, and now those votes are being tabulated and they'll be counted throughout the day.

But I have to tell you, from my conversations with these election officials, they are -- take great pride in this process. They are very committed to making sure that this is a fair and a free and accurate election. And they are really proud to be part of this first in the nation New Hampshire primary. And, you know, just to take a step back and tell you some of my

reporting with Donald Trump as well, we know that he is expecting to win here today. The question is, will he actually win and by how big of margin? We're seeing him poll on a lot of the endorsements he's gotten from his primary rivals to really boost him and argue that the party is unifying behind him. But I know that from my conversations with his campaign they are very closely watching to see how -- what the margins might look like. And I think that will give us a good preview of what could happen next for Nikki Haley as well.

Wolf.

BLITZER: A very important, dramatic day in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Alayna Treene, we'll stay in very close touch with you.

[09:15:02]

Alayna's in Nashua, New Hampshire.

We're going to be hearing from New Hampshire primary voters, by the way, throughout the day as we track the election that could be make or break for the Nikki Haley campaign. How this primary sets the stage potentially for the path ahead. We're going to be watching this all hour, all day. This is a really important, historic day in this race for the White House.

Plus, a CNN exclusive. An extraordinary proposal from Israel as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces increasing pressure to bring home the remaining hostages. What Israel's spy chief is now proposing.

And CNN is also live in Texas at the southern border after the U.S. Supreme Court gave U.S. officials the green light to cut down razor wire put up by the state of Texas to prevent illegal border crossings. But the Texas governor is vowing the fight is not over.

Lots going on. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:15]

BERMAN: All right, I'm John Berman, in New Hampshire. The polls are open here for the first in the nation primary. Just a few minutes ago we saw Nikki Haley out by the coast in Hampton, New Hampshire, working the polls in what could be the biggest day of her political career. Can she pull off an upset? Or will Donald Trump win here? Maybe win here by enough of a margin where she's forced to make a crucial decision maybe that she doesn't want to make.

I'm joined now by Fergus Cullen, the former state chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party. Someone who has been in New Hampshire politics since he worked in Phil Graham's presidential campaign in 1996.

Great to have you here.

FERGUS CULLEN, FORMER STATE CHAIR, NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY: Thank you.

BERMAN: Have you voted yet today?

CULLEN: I have not yet, but I will this afternoon. I'll be casting a vote for Nikki Haley, but with not a great deal of enthusiasm.

BERMAN: OK, not a great deal of enthusiasm. I read you quoted in "The New York Times" saying you can't basically make yourself, try to convince even your neighbors to vote for Nikki Haley. Why the reticence?

CULLEN: Yes, so, I mean I'm -- I'm a never Trump Republican. So, who else am I going to be for today? I saw Nikki Haley on the stump four times over this year and I - to me she just hasn't given the unaffiliated voters a reason to turn out for her. She's been just unwilling to take on Donald Trump. She's been unwilling to say anything that a potential MAGA-type voter might find offensive. And so, in politics, sometimes you're judged by your friends. Sometimes you have to make the right enemies too. And she's just not done what she needed to do, I think.

BERMAN: I find this so interesting because, yes, you are a former party official, but you're also a New Hampshire voter here. And you have a certain thirst that just hasn't been quenched.

CULLEN: Well, that's right. And I saw here on Wednesday night and I was looking for - this is just two days after Iowa. I was looking for her to take the case against Donald Trump. And, you know, she still had this very tepid, very timid, you know, rightly or wrongly chaos follows him, like Donald Trump has no responsibility for some of his actions. And she's just not been willing to take him on this week.

And I think, you know, I've seen John McCain in New Hampshire win this primarily twice by appealing to independent voters. And she needed to give them something this week to motivate them to turn out on her behalf. And I'm not sure she did enough of that.

BERMAN: The secretary of state here in New Hampshire is predicting record turnout. You take the over or the under there?

CULLEN: I'm definitely taking the under. Now, there's no race on the Democratic side. So, it's true that there's only one reason to vote today, and that's in the Republican primary. But I don't see voters enthused about any candidate. That includes Joe Biden. It includes Donald Trump. The crowds in New Hampshire have been very modest this week, especially for the last week of the primary campaign. They're not seeing lawn signs in people's yards. I think there's resignation out there. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe we're looking at another election, a rematch that nobody in America wants, between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

BERMAN: Talk to me a little bit more about that because the first time I was in New Hampshire covering a campaign was 2000. I was following George W. Bush when he got shellacked by John McCain. And then you just saw people coming out of the woodwork for the McCain campaign. He was riding around on the Straight Talk Express and cars would follow him from place to place and there would be this energy. What does an energized campaign feel like in New Hampshire?

CULLEN: Yes, I mean, you know, you start seeing 1,000-plus person crowds filling high school gymnasiums this week. You saw that for Barack Obama. You saw that for Hillary Clinton. You saw it four years ago for Pete Buttigieg. Those are the signs of a candidate who is really surging, who has connected with independent voters in New Hampshire, as well as members of their own party.

BERMAN: Now, Donald Trump, who may or may not win here, maybe he wins by a big margin, is there that energy even for him this time?

CULLEN: I don't think so. I think it's less than what we saw in 2016. I think it's less than what we saw in 2020. So perhaps it's wearing off a little bit. But he certainly still has a lot of strong support among Republicans and seems to be on his way to a win here.

BERMAN: Now, Nikki Haley was asked repeatedly at this polling location in Hampton, what's success for her? What's the bar? What does she need to do here? What do you think she needs to do?

CULLEN: Well, one thing is, does she keep Donald Trump under 50 percent? I think that's important. You know, all along, going back to 2015, Republicans have said, you know, if we can just consolidate the non-Trump vote behind one candidate, we can beat him. Well, if he's over 50 percent for the second state in a row, in a state where -- with a broader electorate where unaffiliated independent voters can vote, I've done the math, and it's hard to beat somebody if they're over 50 percent. So, that's one.

I also think she really has to make it competitive. That probably means breaking 40. It probably means keeping it within ten points.

BERMAN: Prediction?

CULLEN: That she's going to fall short on both of those. I think Donald Trump will break 50%, probably comfortably and Nikki Haley will struggle to break 40.

BERMAN: Fergus Cullen, great to see you. Great to be here in New Hampshire. Thanks so much.

CULLEN: Thanks for having me.

BERMAN: Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, John, a very interesting conversation indeed.

Still ahead here, as we continue our special coverage, we're also following the live voting in New Hampshire but also taking a very close look at the Republican primary view beyond the granite state. A closer look at the Haley/Trump matchup in South Carolina and Nevada.

[09:25:04]

That's coming up as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Right now voters are heading to the polls across New Hampshire. And it's down to two in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The question this morning is for how long. From a field of 13, it's now just Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. The former South Carolina governor is fighting for her political future right now, making the pitch to voters in New Hampshire that she's the future of the Republican Party, and the country for that matter. But are they convinced?

One New Hampshire voter had another take for CNN. Listen.

[09:30:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX SAIDEL, VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP: I feel that his policies are aligned with making.