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DeSantis: I Am Suspending My Campaign. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired January 21, 2024 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:01:08]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone.
I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta.
This breaking news now on a GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and his campaign. Let's go straight to Dana Bash with more on this.
Dana, what are we learning?
DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hi, Fredricka.
Well, I just arrived here in New Hampshire at an Nikki Haley event to get the news and I'm looking at my phone right now because Ron DeSantis' campaign just put out a video. And in the video, he says that he is suspending his 2024 presidential bid, and he explains a lot more in the video, which we just got. We are waiting to actually look at it with the details that he is giving.
But the headline is that Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who has been -- had been when he got in the one to beat Donald Trump, and now what we're seeing is that he only survived one contest, only survived Iowa and he is dropping out of the race before voters even go to the polls here where I am in New Hampshire, a day after tomorrow.
This is a really stunning decision, a stunning decline for a candidate who had millions and millions of dollars, all of the donors who were kind of not into Donald Trump at the beginning of this process way before he even got into the race back in May. They said Ron DeSantis is our guy.
But he clearly felt that that was not going to happen for him. The money was drying up, and the polls were making clear that he was not going to be able to make it very far. And that is a deadly combination when you are running for president.
Just in our poll today, Fredricka, he got only six percent here in New Hampshire. He has not been advertising here, for example, since November, and that just kind of gives you a sense of where things are. You go back to Iowa, just last week, Fredricka, he went to all 99 counties, he made a very big push there, and he didn't win one of them. And so the combination of that, all of the money that he spent and the lack of traction that he has been getting, made it very clear to him and the people in his campaign, the people in his family that it was the end of the road for him in this particular race, and he is suspending his campaign, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Well, Dana it is still really remarkable, because we're talking about the timing of it all. Why now? Two days ahead of the New Hampshire contest. Oh, wait a minute, we've got that video now that we want to share with everybody that you were making reference to, Dana. Let's watch and listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): ... it reminds me why I decided to run for president: to fight for those who have been forgotten in this country.
This is America's time for choosing.
We can choose to allow a border invasion or we can choose to stop it.
We can choose reckless borrowing and spending or we can choose to limit government and lower inflation.
We can choose political indoctrination, or we can choose classical education.
These choices are symptoms of the underlying struggle to ensure that constitutional government can endure and that Western Civilization can survive.
Now, we launched this campaign to bring accountability to government, regain sovereignty at our border, and restore sanity to our society.
We cannot succeed as a country if we allow our nation to be invaded, our currency to be debased, our cities to crumble, and our kids to be indoctrinated.
The DC elites who have facilitated this mess do not work for you, they do not care about you; they work for themselves. They seek to accumulate power at your expense to pursue an agenda that is harmful to the American people.
Citizens do not serve politicians; it is the duty of politicians to serve you.
[15:05:10]
Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.
Reversing the decline of this nation requires leadership that delivers big results for the people we are elected to serve.
I have a record of leading with conviction, championing an agenda marked by bold colors, delivering on my promises, and defeating the people who are responsible for our nation's decline. That is the type of leadership we need for all of America.
Now over the past many months, Casey and I have traveled across the country to deliver a message of hope, that decline is a choice, and that we, in fact, can succeed again as a nation.
Nobody worked harder. And we left it all out on the field.
Now following our second-place finish in Iowa, we have prayed and deliberated on the way forward. If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome -- more campaign stops, more interviews -- I would do it. But I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory.
Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign.
I am proud to have delivered on 100 percent of my promises and I will not stop now.
It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him.
While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge.
He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear -- a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.
The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology, are over.
I thank all of our passionate supporters who have stood by us through it all. That we had people volunteer to come to Iowa in the middle of a blizzard to knock on doors and make phone calls touched us dearly.
No candidate had more thrown at him, but no candidate had so many committed volunteers and staff.
Finally, I want to thank my wife, Casey, and our kids Madison, Mason, and Mamie. Casey has gone far above and beyond in her support for our campaign and for our cause. She is not only a great wife and mother; she is a great American, who cares deeply about the future of the country that our kids will inherit.
Our kids have seen and done a lot on the trail, from playing on the famed Field of Dreams baseball site in Iowa to making their first snowman in New Hampshire.
They are one of the reasons we fight so hard for what we believe in.
Winston Churchill once remarked that "Success is not final, failure is not fatal -- it is the courage to continue that counts."
While this campaign has ended, the mission continues. Down here in Florida, we will continue to show the country how to lead.
Thank you and God bless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, so if you're just now joining us, that is a video where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis now announces that he is suspending his campaign for the GOP nomination in his path to the White House. He says, "We don't have a clear path." But at the same time, he also said, Trump is superior to President Biden.
So clearly, he is throwing his support behind Trump who in every indication, through so much polling that he is still the leading figure in the race for the nomination in the GOP, and so just a couple of days ago, you heard Nikki Haley saying it's a two-person race and so it is now.
Dana Bash back with us now.
So we're hearing with some clarity there from Ron DeSantis that he is out. He had some real criticism for government, still works for itself, not for you. Yet even with that criticism of government, he is no longer on the path to try to promote some sort of change with him in the White House.
But you know, it is still curious as to why he made this decision now, when immediately even after a poor showing in Iowa, he goes to South Carolina, and then he comes to New Hampshire today for at least one campaign event, canceling on television appearances, and now has this very constructed television announcement that he has suspended the campaign.
So what happened in between all of this?
BASH: Well, I've just been texting -- well, first of all, I should just tell you, give you a little bit of context. I am currently at an event, Nikki Haley, I'm not sure if you can see or hear her behind me, but I am with Nikki Haley right now in New Hampshire, so it is a bit surreal, they delayed the start of this event it seemed as they were consuming and digesting the news that Ron DeSantis was in fact, suspending his campaign.
[15:10:12]
And now, it is Nikki Haley, and it is Donald Trump. They are the ones on the Republican side of the ledger who are on the ballot here. I mean, DeSantis will likely be on the ballot, but for all intents and purposes there, it is a race between them even more so now.
To answer your question, as we were listening to that video, Fred, I was texting with a DeSantis source who said that right after he was in South Carolina yesterday, he went back to Tallahassee, back home to Florida, met with his family, they talked and decided that this was the best course. Because I think you were alluding to this, the plan, at least what the campaign had told everybody was that he was on his way here, he was supposed to be here for an event tonight, in just a couple of hours. And obviously he is not coming here and that is not happening.
You know what you said, Fred, about the idea that even though he did so poorly, he did not win one county in the 99 counties of Iowa. He still went to South Carolina, still came here, went back to South Carolina. The question that you asked, a very good one is why my experience in covering these processes, these primaries, particularly when it is sort of within the party, you know, the early process, the nominating process, it takes a while for the candidate and the candidate's family and top supporters, but this is a very personal decision to go through.
I don't know sort of the stages of campaign grief, and to figure out that it is in fact, the end of the road. And he has been out there for so long, for so many months, mostly in Iowa in recent times and it takes a while for this kind of thing to sink in.
It is not unique to Ron DeSantis, to not figure it out, or at least to come to terms with it, you know, the day after or even the night of and so that is what has happened.
Now, I will say you mentioned this, Fred. DeSantis was supposed to be on my show this morning on "State of the Union" and also on "Meet the Press" on NBC. They canceled late last night or last evening. They said it was for logistical reasons.
His campaign is insisting that it was still the case that he hadn't decided until this afternoon. We'll take them for their word on that, that this was a decision that he and his family came to while he was home in Florida after leaving South Carolina -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: But then that ad or that announcement was taped in Florida.
BASH: Yes.
WHITFIELD: Okay. All right, well, David Chalian, I've got questions for you, too. But I also have with us on the phone, Jessica Dean, because she has been traveling with the Ron DeSantis campaign, and I wonder just if Jessica, if you're with me, I understand that you are. Can you tell us --
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am. Hi.
WHITFIELD: Okay, good. Can you tell us where Ron DeSantis is now? Did he cancel what was supposed to be an appearance there in New Hampshire? Or is he somewhere in New Hampshire and plans to make this announcement again in person, what's going on?
DEAN: Fredricka, I am told that he's actually back home in Florida. As Dana was saying, he traveled there last night after that event in South Carolina, and had this New Hampshire event scheduled for just a couple of hours from now there in New Hampshire. I am being told, obviously, that has been called off as well.
So back in Florida, at home with his family as he looks ahead to what comes next and that is the big question. Of course, he entered this race with so much fanfare. There was the kind of failed Twitter launch where the audio was kind of messed up and then several resets with his campaign, and it's been a bumpy road.
And they spent -- poured really millions and millions, millions of dollars and so much time into Iowa where they had really hoped for a much stronger showing last week at the caucuses. And when that didn't happen, you know, when I would talk to sources, they were speaking with him at the time -- the theory of the case was, let's go on to South Carolina. We know we really can't play in New Hampshire. Let's go to South Carolina, let's try to beat Nikki Haley in her home state and then make it a two-person race with Trump.
But of course, with that disappointing finish in Iowa, it becomes harder to raise money to continue on. Just a reminder for everyone out there, the South Carolina primary isn't for roughly a month from now, so it is a long way away.
And so we know that he was talking and thinking about this. There were supposed to be a donor call the day after those Iowa caucuses that didn't end up happening. And so all of this just kind of comes to this point where last night as Dana said, they canceled those appearances on these Sunday morning shows, and we started to hear from sources little ripples.
You know, you start to put the pieces together in these sorts of situations and the reason I actually I'm on the phone with you is because I'm in transit now between New Hampshire and trying to get to a camera because these things -- you know, he made this decision and it became apparent that this video will be coming out this afternoon as it did -- Fredricka.
[15:15:16]
WHITFIELD: So Jessica, at the event that he was supposed to attend today there in New Hampshire, are supporters who were showing up at that location there in New Hampshire finding out just like the rest of us are, by way of this announcement that he is not going to be a no- show, or were even they given a bit of a heads up?
DEAN: Yes, no, there's no -- there was no public heads up. The video dropped for everyone at the same time on, fittingly, it came to me on X as it started, right, formerly known as Twitter.
So the whole circle moment there that it began and ended there. But yes, people in New Hampshire would have been just as likely, you know, supporters would have been just as likely surprised, again, as this had been broadcast and scheduled out for later this afternoon that he was going to do this event, and there were likely going to be other events moving forward.
Of course, now all of that has been canceled. And you know, look, Fredricka, David, I'm sure will talk to this as well, but in terms of a larger picture here, we're really seeing this race, we are really seeing -- I'm sorry, Trump really taking hold of this race and things really falling into line in the way that Trump and his campaign would hope.
And now, everyone looks to Tuesday to see if Nikki Haley can put a dent in his massive momentum at this point.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica Dean, hold tight. David Chalian, yes, I have lots of questions for you. But hold on, because I've got to go back to Dana Bash real quick.
She is at an event there where Nikki Haley is and I understand Dana, you have some interesting information about what Haley said to the audience there about Ron DeSantis now being out.
BASH: Yes. She's now working the crowd while I was talking to you, Fredricka. She took the microphone and she said that Ron DeSantis ran a good race, and the effect of what she said after that is that it's now down to one lady and one fella.
You know, she likes to call the men she is running against fellas and so that is what she said. Noteworthy, I think that she wanted to take the microphone when she got here to make the announcement to the people who came in order to see her.
She is, I believe, she's sort of over my left shoulder right now. She's working the room and glad handing and I believe she's going to speak again after that, she is going to make some other remarks. But she wanted to get the news out herself to the people here.
Many of whom I can tell you walking in here are still not decided. They're not entirely sold on her and the fact that they can only choose now between Nikki Haley and Donald Trump changes the game just a little bit.
WHITFIELD: Just a little bit.
BASH: It's not as if Ron DeSantis had a big -- had a big number here, it was six percent in our poll that David Chalian released on "State of the Union" this morning. But if it's close, six percent will be something.
WHITFIELD: Yes, so Dana, if I could ask you to kind of watch her body language for me, does it seem like this has, you know, given her a little extra pep in her step, that she seemed rather enthusiastic about how prophetic her words were, right?
It wasn't long ago, where she said it's a two-person race, and of course, Ron DeSantis took offense to that. And now it really is a two- person race for the GOP nomination.
Does it seem as though this gives her a little wind in her sails to be able to convey this to the audiences there, especially those who are undecided?
BASH: Forgive my back, I'm looking back to report to you on her actual body language. There are people in between here, hopefully, I'll be able to talk to her after you and I speak.
But I just want to give, and I'm sure David will add to this as well just give a reality check here, and that is, yes, it was only six percent of the vote here when it comes to the polls, but with Ron DeSantis endorsing which he did when he suspended his campaign, endorsing Donald Trump, it's not entirely clear that him dropping out will mean that the people who supported him will automatically go to Nikki Haley.
WHITFIELD: All right. Okay. All right, Dana, I'm going to let you do your thing. You try and catch Nikki Haley.
BASH: Okay.
WHITFIELD: And David Chalian, your turn, finally. Thank you so much for waiting for me.
So what or who might have gotten to Ron DeSantis, somewhere within the last 24 hours, where he would now suspend his race. When you went to South Carolina or was in South Carolina yesterday, it was with a thinking of what an interesting strategy. He is going -- getting ahead of things. He's going to South Carolina, and then he's heading back to New Hampshire.
What was the reality check or who delivered possibly that reality check for him?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, let's be clear, Fred. There's only one thing that actually ends presidential campaigns and that is not having enough money.
WHITFIELD: Money.
[15:20:03]
CHALIAN: Exactly -- to move forward with a presidential campaign and that was a reality that DeSantis was facing as well. He was very much running on fumes.
And running 30-points behind Donald Trump in Iowa, which is the state where he put everything on the line did not result in getting infused with a whole bunch of new cash because he didn't get much momentum out of Iowa.
The other reality: You don't need a what or a whom, it's just the basic math here. This is a battle to collect enough delegates to become the Republican nominee, and when you look at the path ahead, how Ron DeSantis was going to be able to move on in a truly contested race against Donald Trump if he didn't have the funds to do so and if his supporters in large part are totally good with Donald Trump and Donald Trump is racking up victories.
I mean, this is the reality of how Ron DeSantis chose to run this race for the last year, which was to try and be Trump, but without the baggage, rather than making a case against Donald Trump from the outset. He's done that in recent days more vociferously, but certainly that wasn't the thrust of his entirety of the last year of this campaign. And that meant that a lot of supporters who feel aligned with what DeSantis is selling, they just have the actual original version in Donald Trump to sign up for.
So, he was in a complicated position by the way he structured the strategy of his campaign. And I would just note when we now look at this arc, Fred, of the last year, remember Ron DeSantis, in November of 2022 just over a year ago wins resounding victory for re-election as Florida's governor, you know, one of the largest states in the country. Nineteen-point victory over his Democratic opponent, precisely as Donald Trump's legal woes were beginning to mount precisely when a lot of Republicans had concerns that Donald Trump- backed candidates in the midterm elections in '22 were not winning their elections. There was this looking around from Republicans, who else is out there other than Donald Trump?
And Donald Trump saw that too, which is why he announced his campaign for the presidency, his third campaign for the presidency, right in November on the heels of that DeSantis big victory to start trying to squash the oxygen that was forming around DeSantis.
And DeSantis, a year ago was sitting so pretty, he was actually really competitive with Donald Trump, and all of that, just if you look at the entirety of the DeSantis campaign over the last year, it has been nothing but a straight decline of support downward as Donald Trump strengthened inside this Republican race.
WHITFIELD: But more on that journey, I mean, and you said it DeSantis was very much aligned with Trump, and then as made his pursuit, for, you know, the race for the White House and seeing that, okay, Donald Trump is a force as well, then distancing himself to a degree from Trump.
But then when you listen to the audio of that announcement he just made nearly right out the gate. He says, you know, he is here to fight for the forgotten. I mean, those are words of Donald Trump.
And so it's no surprise, I guess that he would now be behind or backing or throwing his endorsement behind Donald Trump, but then, at the same time, it is a little surprising because he tried, it seems as though Ron DeSantis, tried really hard to distance himself or make a distinction that he was unlike Donald Trump in these last few weeks of this race to the White House.
What happened?
CHALIAN: Well, on certain things, though, not on everything, right? He would pick and choose where he was willing to draw a real distinction with Donald Trump. Sometimes it was on sort of tenor and tone. Sometimes it was on policy.
It was rarely on the fact that Donald Trump is facing four criminal indictments, 91 charges, including efforts to overturn a legitimate election. That was not the thrust of his differences with Donald Trump.
And so, you saw a candidate who at the very beginning of his candidacy at the beginning last year, wanted to just play in sort of the right- wing echo chamber, media only, not doing mainstream media, trying to just be able to talk to his supporters, really live in the space of those culture wars that really energize the Republican base right now.
And by about July, they saw that wasn't working. They saw that Donald Trump was getting stronger because the Republican base was rallying around him because of those indictments and they completely had to alter their strategy.
[15:25:06]
They had staff firings. They decided to start doing more mainstream interviews, making him more available.
Actually, Ron DeSantis, as an observer of him on the campaign trail from time to time, he got a lot stronger as a candidate throughout this process. He got more comfortable with voters out there. He seemed more comfortable in his skin as he learned this process.
But it was almost too late by the time that he was sort of firing on all cylinders. And again, the portions of the party he was appealing to, Donald Trump was being able to lock up throughout this process and Ron DeSantis, could not get a toehold in there.
And so this is just one of the more extraordinary campaigns that I've observed in terms of level of expectation at the outset as the Trump alternative and a lot of potential support, and where he ends up, 30 points behind in this must-win state of Iowa, and now not even making it a full week after that, getting out before the New Hampshire primary.
WHITFIELD: Hey, David, hold tight for a second. Steve Contorno was traveling with the Ron DeSantis camp on Saturday. Steve joining us right now.
So Steve, was there anything unique to observe yesterday with Ron DeSantis or his camp? Or does this simply come as a huge stunner for those who have had a front row seat to his campaign?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: You know, Fred, it's shocking for all the reasons that David just said, all the advantages he had coming into this.
But there are a few people who are surprised by this announcement today.
Seeing him yesterday on the campaign trail, there was just something missing from him. He didn't have the swagger that he had going into Iowa. He kind of had adopted this sort of underdog mindset going into those final weeks of the race when he really thought that there was a chance that this ground game that he had built there would materialize into some late support. But I'm told that as early as Thursday, DeSantis, after Iowa made this trek back to Florida, and it obviously sparked a lot of speculation. His campaign said, no, no, he's still in it.
But during this trip, he did meet with a number of his closest advisers, back home in Tallahassee, and they had a lot of conversations about what comes next. And it was really the first time that he entertained conversations about dropping out is what I'm told.
One person is telling me, I think he just needed to get a bit more time to collect his thoughts and determine a path forward. He got to the decision on his own, and he determined it is in the best interest to get back to governor.
I'm told the mood around DeSantis supporters right now and his advisers is disappointing, but the belief had set in that this campaign was over.
So clearly, not a shock to those who have been trying to raise money for him since Iowa, those who are planning the events. Obviously, the confusion around his movements, what state he was going to even be in today, and the decision to drop those interview plans with "State of the Union" and NBC clearly sending a lot of signals that something was amiss.
And today, he made this decision himself, he finalized it and not only making the decision to get out of the race, but also to also to throw his weight behind Donald Trump in a way that not only suggests that, that he will support the former president going forward, but he really came out critically of Nikki Haley.
Let me read you a little bit of what he said in his announcement because I think it's quite stunning: "I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear or repackage form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents."
So not just supporting Donald Trump, but coming out with this -- immediately with this attack of Nikki Haley aligning himself back with the MAGA crowd that made him such a popular person to begin with, a rising star and clearly with a looking ahead to 2028, and that's got to be part of the calculus in that decision there -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Interesting.
All right, David Chalian, I want to bring you back in to this as well, because now, it is Haley and Trump fighting for the nomination.
Gloves off, what do we expect it is going to be like? And now not just two days ahead of New Hampshire, but for the duration?
CHALIAN: Well, we'll see if the duration goes beyond New Hampshire.
You know, Nikki Haley has said New Hampshire will not be the end of the road. She said that in Amherst, New Hampshire when I was with her there on Friday. We will see. We had a brand new poll out this morning from CNN and the University of New Hampshire showing Donald Trump with a pretty substantial lead, 50 percent to Haley's 39 percent. Maybe she'll pick up some support from potential DeSantis supporters now, but I would imagine so too will Donald Trump.
[15:30:06]
The question is going to become, if Donald Trump has a victory that large on Tuesday night, does Nikki Haley, who has had more money at the end here face the same kind of story? Does she -- is there enough momentum there to fund an effort to stay in this race, by the way that now will go home to her home state, which is at the end of February, the South Carolina primary, and Trump is dominant in the polls there, too.
So is she going to be able to come out of New Hampshire with some kind of momentum even if she loses to Donald Trump to make the case that there is a rationale for her staying in this race, to make the case to donors, to fund it, and to make the case to voters who see Donald Trump racking up victories and collecting delegates.
So I think we are not going to know what the length of this nomination race, Fred, is going to be until we see what those results look like on Tuesday night.
WHITFIELD: Yes, and you underscored it earlier, money is everything. You know, money is going to determine how long you might be able to stay in. But I wonder for Nikki Haley, since we've reported it, and so many outlets have reported how there is this, you know, consternation within the Republican Party. There is a movement among Republicans who are working really hard to not align themselves with Trump.
And so they're hoping that Haley might be able to gain more momentum. What is the strength behind that movement, when you're also up against the issue of donors, whether they're contributing enough or more to help keep her campaign afloat?
CHALIAN: Well, we see that movement perhaps most clearly, in a segment of the donor class, quite frankly, perhaps more so than we see it among voters that would like to prevent Donald Trump from winning a third nomination here for the Republican Party's presidential candidacy.
And so I do think what -- you ask a key question here, which is can all of those anti-Trump forces in the party mobilize together here now that they have a single vehicle for that in Nikki Haley, and somehow propel her candidacy forward?
I would just note, it is going to be a very tough climb. What we've seen in the numbers out of the results in Iowa, and perhaps we'll see what the voters do in New Hampshire is that the Trump wing of the party is more dominant than those that want to coalesce around an anti-Trump alternative. It is a larger share of the party. That's one.
Two, if you look at the contests coming ahead in this race, there are some of them through the end of March, Fred, where yes, Independents can indeed play in Republican primaries, especially in states where you don't register by party.
But there will be a whole slew of contests that will be closed, and it will be Republicans only and what we've seen out of Iowa, and what we see out of the polling in New Hampshire, and we'll see the election results on Tuesday is that Nikki Haley right now is performing a lot better with Independents, with moderates than she is with tried and true conservative Republicans.
Well, as these contests go over, the conservative Republicans are the more dominant force inside these contests in this battle for delegates, which may make it very tough for Nikki Haley to amass the kind of momentum that she would need to really suggest that this is an effort that should be funded all the way through to the convention.
Right now, Donald Trump is sitting pretty in this race, and Nikki Haley is going to need convincing evidence beyond just getting kind of close to him in New Hampshire that she can stay the course in this race.
WHITFIELD: David, let me bring in Jessica Dean again. She has been covering Ron DeSantis.
Jessica, you still with me on the phone?
DEAN: Hi.
WHITFIELD: Okay, good. All right, so I wonder now for the New Hampshire based DeSantis camp volunteers. Where do they go now?
DEAN: Well, you know, listen, he didn't have a huge footprint there in New Hampshire. We had reported that after he left Iowa, where again, they had just put so many resources into Iowa, they had moved so much of the staff there, that much of the staff that had been in Iowa, Fredricka, was immediately going to South Carolina.
There was kind of tacit acknowledgment that he was not going to do well in New Hampshire, and that was kind of just absorbed and acknowledged, you know, kind of acknowledged by everybody in that orbit with a keen eye on South Carolina.
And so there isn't much of a DeSantis infrastructure there. Now, obviously, he had some volunteers and staff and some of his advisers had travelled there with him, that sort of thing.
But in terms of the infrastructure that they had, something like the infrastructure that they had in place in Iowa, which was so vast and had so many people, they were in the process we were told, my colleague, Steve Contorno and I, they were in the process of moving a lot of that staff to South Carolina and obviously, that's not going to happen now.
[15:35:07]
But that is the case, or that is where they were putting the resources as opposed to New Hampshire. But David made such a salient point, and it is, in the end of the ballgame, which is money, and there was not going to be, this fundraising was just so difficult after those results in the Iowa caucuses.
It is hard to sustain any sort of major infrastructure for well over a month, which is you know, when that South Carolina primary will be held and be able to sustain without money coming in, and was going to get harder and harder. And that was becoming evident from the donors, and also the fundraisers who were talking to the donors, that became more and more evident as the days went by.
WHITFIELD: And David, in any campaign, whether it's the volunteers or you know, those unpaid staff, the skill set is invaluable. And when something like this happens, is it advantageous for a Nikki Haley camp or Donald Trump camp to take on any of Ron DeSantis' staff, people, or volunteers, especially when you are talking about in New Hampshire, a place where Independents make up some 39 percent, and a number of them are undecided. How helpful can that skill set be?
CHALIAN: Yes, and in our most recent poll today, Independents made up a 47 percent of the Republican electorate. Nearly half Republicans make up a slightly larger share than that.
But listen, in the final 48 hours here, I don't think staff deployments or changes are going to be the difference maker here. Yes, some campaigns may try to absorb some of DeSantis' staff, there is also the reality that DeSantis' staff has just put their heart and soul into something for the better part of the year that didn't work out, the staff of the super PAC.
And so, there may be a moment where they want to catch their breath and not jump in the next 48 hours into somebody's campaign.
I think it's more Donald Trump's mission, should he emerge as the nominee here, and he is obviously the clear frontrunner to do so, to bring all factions of the party together. That's going to be a mission of his to take on Joe Biden should he be the nominee and that is going to take pieces of the operations from the DeSantis campaign, the Ramaswamy campaign, you know, and perhaps the Haley campaign, should it play out that way.
WHITFIELD: So I wonder, David, Donald Trump, no one expects him to change his style, change his jargon. It is going to be more of the same and especially since he is, you know, out front, way ahead of the competition.
If you're Nikki Haley right now, what kind of adaptations do you need to make, modifications does she need to make in her approach to now Donald Trump and to grab, reach for a bigger audience, perhaps those who were once in Ron DeSantis' camp, but I mean, the task for her seems like it is big and challenging, and she has to do something to change. What will that be?
CHALIAN: We've been seeing her do it, quite frankly. I mean, we've been seeing an adjustment over the course of these last many days in New Hampshire. When she first arrived after Iowa, her schedule was a little light. She did take some time off the trail to go visit her father in the hospital down in South Carolina, got back to New Hampshire, her announced schedule was still a little light. And then all of a sudden, it was multiple events a day. She started taking voters' questions again, at her events, something she had stopped doing for some time. She started taking reporters' questions, again, something that she was not doing regularly.
So, she has been doing a ton of the glad handing and making her way to multiple places. And I will tell you just being with her in Amherst, New Hampshire on Friday, there were a couple of things that you could hear in her pitch and in her answers to questions that she was positioning herself to make sure she was available for potential DeSantis supporters. First of all, pushing very hard back on the notion that she's a moderate.
Yes, moderate voters may be supporting her, but she was defending her conservatism to reporters pretty vociferously on Friday. I think that's to make sure she is still seen as an open option to people who identify as conservative. They are the dominant force in a Republican primary.
And we see her going after Trump much more aggressively than she ever has not just on policy, which he has been doing in trying to plead with reporters to look into his background that he had one point floated the idea of raising the retirement age to 70 for full Social Security benefits, an attack that he launches onto her.
She is trying to push back with that on policy that he was open to the idea perhaps of a 25 cent raise in the gasoline tax, but she also as you saw yesterday, started going after the personal a little bit about his mental acuity when he confused Nancy Pelosi for Nikki Haley several times in his remarks and Nikki Haley seizing on that and questioning whether he is totally mentally fit for the rigors of the presidency in these next years.
[15:40:11]
That's something that she, while has talked about from the launch of her campaign, that she wanted a mental competency test for anyone over the age of 75, she never really took that directly at Trump the way that she has done in the last 24 hours.
So she is trying every which way to gain a toehold and still be available for some DeSantis or even perhaps non-locked in Trump supporters, there aren't many of those. But again, the bulk of her support, Fred, if it's from independents, if it's from moderate, if it's from college graduates, there are a bunch of them in New Hampshire. But still, those are not the majority segments of the Republican primary electorate, even in a more moderate place like New Hampshire.
So she has got to figure a way forward that really peels off some of Trump's support and brings it her way, and that is tough because his supporters are so overwhelmingly committed to his effort.
WHITFIELD: Yes, well, how is this news of Ron DeSantis? Now suspending his campaign, how is that news landing in the Trump camp? Let's check in with Alayna Treene, who was traveling with the Trump campaign. What are you hearing about how they're receiving this news and how it might redirect what they're going to do next?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, Fred, I actually just got off the phone with a couple of Trump's advisers, and they told me that they had been preparing for DeSantis to potentially drop out of the race over the last 24 hours, and as part of that, Donald Trump is expected in the coming moments to release a statement about DeSantis suspending his candidacy on social media.
Now, I can just tell you from my conversations with Trump's advisers that they are obviously, I think, happy to have DeSantis' endorsement, but a big question will be whether or not the former president will actually embrace the Florida governor moving forward.
We know that Donald Trump had really viciously attacked DeSantis throughout 2024, really in the lead up to Iowa. He had focused the majority of his attacks on DeSantis. And a lot of that was of course, he was a little bit concerned about DeSantis' candidacy, but it also was for personal reasons.
Donald Trump has a lot of personal animosity toward DeSantis. He views him as disloyal for running against him after Trump offered his endorsement of the Florida governor as he was running for governor in 2017.
And so I think a big question moving forward is, will the Trump campaign use him as a potential surrogate, embrace his endorsement and tout that on the trail? When I asked Trump's advisers about this just moments ago, they told me it's still unclear. They're not sure how -- if they're going to welcome DeSantis into this or how they may use that endorsement, but I think they're still figuring that out right now -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Oh, that's interesting.
Hey, David, I would love to ask you a follow up on that. Because 2016, I mean, why would there be any reluctance, I guess, on Trump's part to embrace Ron DeSantis as a surrogate? I mean, you know, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, I mean, the list is long of many who dropped out of the race for the 2016 nomination, and then they ended up throwing their support behind Trump.
So what would Trump be weighing on whether to embrace Ron DeSantis?
CHALIAN: Again, I think that any nominee, Donald Trump included, if he is the nominee this time around main mission is to unify the party and really heal any of the wounds from a nomination season.
You are right, in 2016, he did see many of his opponents come around to him at the end of the day. Perhaps not John Kasich, the former Republican governor of Ohio, but you noted Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, you know, they were all there at the end of the day, and no doubt so too, will Ron DeSantis and the Trump campaign I'm sure will be happy to deploy him. He comes from a critical big battleground state, now the former president's home state, although it is a red leaning battleground state of late, so I'm not sure how much the Biden operation will actually invest resources in Florida.
But obviously, DeSantis became a more nationally known figure among Republicans and conservatives throughout this year, and so he may be helpful to the Trump campaign going forward.
Listen. We're an hour into this news, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
CHALIAN: Donald Trump and his supporters and his aides has spent the year destroying Ron DeSantis, as much as they possibly could. In fact, I think one of the strategic decisions when all is read about this campaign that we will look back on is that even when DeSantis last summer, his numbers were starting to go down. He was clearly fading. The Trump campaign made the decision to never take its boot off his neck in this race, all the way through to Iowa, even when it was clear that that Trump was so dominant in Iowa in the fall heading into the caucuses this winter, they never stopped trying to make sure they squeezed every vote away they could from Ron DeSantis.
[15:45:10]
And I think that'll prove to be, you know, one of the great strategic decisions made by the Trump campaign in 2023.
WHITFIELD: And then, you know, money, again, that thread of money is, you know, throughout all of this. DeSantis had a trio of super PACs backing him, which raised something like $130 million plus in the first half of 2023. But as the campaign entered into the fourth quarter, it only had, you know, reportedly $5 million in cash on hand.
How does this happen? Help people understand how you go through this money, when it seems like you know, the treasure trove is colossal, and then it's whittled down ever so quickly.
CHALIAN: Well, those television ads do not pay for themselves, so that is where the bulk of the money goes. And if indeed, your poll numbers are not great, it doesn't look like you have a ton of momentum, there's not a lot coming in behind to replenish the coffers.
And so, DeSantis spent early also on a big operation. The super PAC did, the campaign did. They clearly, in the summer saw that that had to get scaled down.
I remember, in August, around the first debate in Milwaukee, the DeSantis super PAC never backed down. It putting out pleas for an additional $10 million in the imminent future or they were not going to be able to execute on their plan as they had hoped. And it turns out, they weren't able to execute on their plan as they hoped.
Never mind all the drama around the leadership of these organizations that got shuffled around multiple times. This was never a well-oiled machine. The DeSantis campaign, the DeSantis super PAC, the DeSantis political universe from the get-go was never a well-oiled machine here, and it showed that to us in real time. That's not something we're learning now when we look back and do obituaries on the campaign. That is something we all covered in real time.
And part of that was the spending of resources. I mean, one of the reasons Nikki Haley, and she says this often on the trail has some money now at the end, not only because she was getting hot at the end, and that's one of the biggest reasons, but also because they were holding back a bunch of their resources and not going on air until they were deep into the fall, understanding that they wanted to spend it when it might have its most crucial impact.
WHITFIELD: Okay, and then, you know, Ron DeSantis didn't have to endorse Trump. He didn't have to endorse anybody right away, but he did in that recording that we just saw.
Is there a feeling that perhaps he and his camp have worked something out with Trump, so that that justified why he would out loud in a recording throw his support behind Donald Trump?
CHALIAN: I haven't heard from DeSantis aides that there was some sort of coordination about that, but I'll just say from a pure political perspective here, it makes total sense. Why linger? DeSantis' endorsement, as most endorsements are not going to be -- sorry, go ahead.
WHITFIELD: Okay. Well, David, I'm going to interrupt you, before Nikki Haley has to change her mind which I know she won't because she's standing there with Dana Bash and Dana bash has Nikki Haley right now to talk about what now? Now that Ron DeSantis has stepped out of the picture.
BASH: Thanks, Fred. That's right. I am standing here with the former governor, thank you so much. Your reaction?
NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I mean, I think look, I have said I think that Ron ran a good race. I know it's personal to get into a race. It's personal to get out of a race. He's been a good governor, and he added a lot to the campaign and we wish him well.
BASH: Okay. When he when he dropped out, part of what he said, was he reminded everybody that he signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee. I'll honor that pledge, he meaning, Donald Trump has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear or repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.
That's tough stuff on his way out the door.
HALEY: You know, and it's interesting, because there is no proof to that. These fellas say this, because they want people to believe it. But what's amazing to me is they think they can lie to the American people and the American people are going to believe it. Prove it. Prove one thing that they've said. Prove the fact that Donald Trump says I want to cut Social Security or raise the age. I've never said that. Prove the fact that Donald Trump says I want to raise gas taxes, I've never said that or done that. Prove that Ron DeSantis says that I'm a corporate whatever he says I am. I've never done that.
I was in South Carolina. We fought for the people every day. There's a reason that you don't see the legislature lining up behind me in South Carolina. It's because I fought to get them to vote on the record. I fought to have them do ethics reform. I've vetoed half a billion dollars' worth of their pork projects, and then you see Congress.
The reason Congress doesn't support us is I've pushed for term limits. I've pushed for mental competency tests. I've said if they don't give us the budget on time, they don't get paid.
I don't get that political elite. That's what we need to be talking about, not the corporate stuff that they're talking about.
The fact that they all side together against the people is what I'm doing. I'm going to continue to fight for the people.
[15:50:15]
BASH: A lot of times you've run in primary races before. When somebody drops out, there tends to be a breath taken and some nicer words are said. That is not the case right now with Ron DeSantis. Is that surprising to you? Is it disappointing to you? And did he call you or at least at all, inform you before he was dropping out?
HALEY: No, he didn't call or inform me. And well, if this is what the fellas do, the difference is I don't take politics personally, I never have, and I think that's the problem with where we are now, is you now have people who want to decide who's a good Republican, who's a bad Republican, who's a good person who's a bad person. That's why our country is so divided.
I don't judge people. I focus on policy that's going to make America stronger. I don't take politics personally. I'm not thin-skinned like Donald Trump. I think that people don't want that. They want a leader who's going to bring out the best in people and get our country going forward.
BASH: Ron DeSantis is saying that he is sticking by his pledge, which is why -- and he believes that Donald Trump will be the nominee. You made a pledge a long time ago before the Republican National Committee debates even started to support the nominee. Do you still feel that way? Are you still going to support -- I mean, it's you and Donald Trump. So if it's not you, I know you hope it will be and you're working so that it is, but if it's not, if it's Donald Trump, will you support him as the nominee still?
HALEY: It's going to be me, and I know you don't want to talk about it like it's still him, 70 percent of Americans don't want to see a Trump-Biden rematch. But even look at that, 56,000 people voted in Iowa, less than two percent voted in one state. We're not going to let that decide what happens in the country.
We've got New Hampshire, we've got South Carolina, we've got Super Tuesday, we're going to keep on going. And we're going to fight and we're going to win.
I'm used to people underestimating me. It's always fun. But there were 14 people in this race, and now, there are two. I'm going to finish this so Joe Biden and Donald Trump are not an issue at all, that we actually put them in the past and we go forward, because our country deserves it and Americans want it. They're tired.
BASH: As former governor of South Carolina, South Carolina doesn't vote, as you know, for a month. You are pledging right now to your former constituents, to your fellow South Carolinians, that you are going to stay in this race through the contest there.
HALEY: Absolutely, and South Carolinians know, I won that state twice. They know I'm a fighter, they know I'm going to go all the way through. I'm also an accountant. So we saved a lot of our dollars to make sure we could be strong in South Carolina.
We're going to be stronger in New Hampshire than we were in Iowa. We're going to be even stronger in South Carolina than we were in New Hampshire and we're going to keep on going until we're the last woman standing.
BASH: You just did it again, and we've heard you over and over in recent weeks on the campaign trail lumping Donald Trump and Joe Biden together. Do you believe that they are equally bad for America?
HALEY: It's not even what I believe, it is what Americans believe.
BASH: What do you believe? Because you're the one who's saying that.
HALEY: I worry about the fact that they are so focused on investigations and things that they don't like and focus on the past. When do you ever hear either one of them talk about the solutions of the future?
I'm doing this because I don't want my kids to live like this. We have got to start looking forward. You've got a country in disarray. You've got a world on fire, and you're going to focus on people who hurt your feelings? You're going to focus on investigations that are involved with their families? You're going to focus on vengeance?
With me, it's no drama, it's no vendettas. It's just hard work. And it's making sure we're not thinking four and eight years, we're thinking 20 and 30 years out. That's what it should be. And we've lost that. We lost that a long time ago, but we couldn't get it back and I'm going to prove every day to every American that they made the right decision when I get elected.
BASH: You don't want to go there on whether or not they're equally bad? HALEY: I mean, if they were -- if either one of them was good, I wouldn't be running. Yes, they are equally bad. That's why I'm running, it is because I don't think we need to have Biden or Trump. I don't think we need to have two 80-year-olds sitting in the White House when we've basically got to make sure that we can handle the war situation that we're in. We need to know they're at the top of their game. We need to know that they can take care of our national security and our economy.
Right now, I don't know that people feel like that with either one, so that's why we're giving them a choice.
BASH: What's your message to Ron DeSantis' supporters who are still out there? Let's just start in New Hampshire. At our latest poll this morning, he was at six percent, so we're not talking about a big slice of the electorate, but they are out there. He just endorsed Donald Trump. What's your message to them about why they should vote for you?
HALEY: I think that they love America and I think they want a new generational leader, and so I am telling them that I am that new generational leader, and I'm the conservative that can get it done and we're going to go and make sure that we get spending under control, we're going to get our kids reading again, and have transparency in the classroom.
[15:55:05]
We're going to secure our border once and for all, no more excuses. We're going to bring law and order back to this country.
But guess what else we're going to do? We're the only one in a general election that beats Joe Biden. Even if you look at the poll yesterday that came out in New Hampshire, general election, Trump loses to Biden by seven points here in New Hampshire, I beat Biden.
Look at every swing state, I beat Biden. I beat him by up to 17 points. This is a fact we don't want a President Kamala Harris, that should send a chill up everybody's spine.
So instead, look at the fact that we could actually win and I think that's what Ron DeSantis' supporters want. They don't want to lose. They don't want a President Kamala Harris and they also want a new generational leader and we give them all of that.
BASH: Two more questions while I have you. Another thing that was really interesting, in the CNN/UNH poll that we had out this morning, was that when people who are voting on Tuesday were asked to rank the issues that matter most, immigration was at the top of the list, democracy and the Constitution, it was very high.
What is your message about why you think to those people who are looking at that issue, while you don't think Donald Trump is the right candidate if they care about the democracy and the Constitution?
HALEY: Well, you can look at his actions and decide for yourself, but what I will tell you is, we are in the live for your die state. I want it to be a live for your die country.
I want to make sure that we go back to all the values and principles that make our country so great. My parents raised me and said that even on our worst day, we're blessed to live in America. That's what I want to get back to.
My husband is deployed right now because he still believes in this amazing experiment that is America. I want to get people to where the national self-loathing has stopped, and we start being patriotic again, we start loving our country again. That's where I want to go.
I don't think you get that with Donald Trump. You can hear him on any given day on any given stage and hear him badmouth Americans all over the place. That's not what I'm going to do. What I'm going to do is fight to get America strong and I don't think you have to hate people to do it.
BASH: Before I let you go, I interviewed Tim Scott, your fellow South Carolinian senator from South Carolina this morning on "State of the Union" and asked him about his decision to endorse Donald Trump and not you. I asked him if he gave you a heads up. And he said eventually, actually, I texted her the day before I made my announcement.
HALEY: That's not true. He didn't call, he didn't text. He didn't tell me that he was going to do this. I texted him and said, look, I want to sit down and talk because we had only spoken once since then. I said I'd love to sit down and talk about endorsement. He said I'm getting with my team to figure that out and I never heard anything else again until his endorsement.
BASH: Did he -- when he told me he texted the day before, did he take somebody on your team?
HALEY: No, we didn't hear from him when he decided to run in this race. We didn't hear from him when he decided to get out of this race. Am I disappointed? Yes. But that's his decision to live with. We're moving on.
There's two people in this race. That's what we wanted all along. We're going to keep on going.
BASH: Governor, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you.
HALEY: Thank you.
BASH: Fredricka, back to you.
WHITFIELD: Okay, Dana, and thank you, Governor.
On who should win the GOP nomination, she said, Dana, she said, you know, it is going to be me with that kind of certainty. I'm used to being underestimated. There were 14 and now there are two, and I wonder Dana, where next for her there in New Hampshire to help convey the message that it's down to two and that she believes she is going to be the GOP nominee. BASH: Everywhere. Our colleague, Kylie Atwood, has been going around with her all day today and will continue to do so tonight. I know I was planning on catching up with her at an event in Exeter, New Hampshire. And so she is -- she's pounding the pavement. She is meeting as many people as she can.
She's, of course, got Governor Sununu along with her to get people riled up and to try to help her connect with New Hampshire voters the way that he understands as somebody who has won here four times.
So that is what she's going to continue to do. And obviously, it's going to kick into high gear, knowing what she just said, and the obvious which is it is just her and Donald Trump here.
It is hard to imagine that whatever was planned already inside the Trump campaign to go after her and it's been -- they've been pretty tough already up to today, just for example, not only the things that he's been saying on the stump, but having local officials from South Carolina come up here to do an event last night. That is going to likely kick in to even higher gear as we get closer to Tuesday.
WHITFIELD: Right and Dana, you asked Nikki Haley about that specifically, you know, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott when she was governor. I mean, she appointed him to that position, while she said she was, you know, she never really received a text from him that he was getting into the race for the GOP nomination and she never really got a txt from him that he was going to now throw his support behind Donald Trump.
I know you didn't ask her specifically, but you know, she said it pretty emphatically, the endorsements of high-ranking South Carolinians including Tim Scott in any way does that kind of rattle her cage, does it concern her at all about the message that is conveyed to voters?
