MANCHESTER, N.H. – In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash in Manchester, N.H. today, Nikki Haley made it clear that she's in this race to win it and Donald Trump can't hide from the debate stage forever.
Click here to watch the full interview.
Haley on debating Donald Trump…
"At the end of the day, [Donald Trump] is the frontrunner. He's the one that I'm seven points away from. He's the one that we're fighting against. There is nobody else I need to debate. I have had five strong debates and have done plenty of them. He can't hide forever. At some point he's got to get on a debate stage."
Haley on facing off against Trump…
"I'm going after Trump. That's what I'm saying. I'm doing that not for personal reasons, but the fact is that I don't want my kids to live like this. At some point something's got to give. People are tired of the division and the chaos. We can't go through four more years of chaos. We won't survive it…you heard me last night say we have a choice. Are we going to do more of the same or go forward? 'More of the same' is not just Donald Trump. It's Joe Biden. Both of them are exactly the same: they're both in their 80s; they both put us trillions of dollars in debt; they both are dealing with investigations that are distractions; they both constantly are showing us they have no vision going forward. This is not about personalities. This is about the fact that America deserves better. Let's make that happen."
Haley on Trump's false attack ads…
"When it comes to Social Security [Donald Trump] is saying I want to kill Social Security. It's the opposite. I want to make sure there's something there for our kids, and that everybody gets what they're promised. So, you do that by acknowledging that there is an issue. You don't put your head in the sand like the other candidates have said they're going to do. As the accountant in me says, you get in front of it. You go to the kids in their twenties - like mine - and tell them 'we're going to change the rules for you.' We're going to change the retirement age to reflect life expectancy, and change cost of living increases to be increases based on inflation. Let's expand Medicare Advantage plans, and limit benefits on the mega wealthy, and get Social Security back on track."
Haley on her plan to win…
"There were 14 candidates in the race. We were at 2 percent. Y'all didn't give us the time of day. And we come out of there with 20 percent and come into New Hampshire where there's a six-point difference between me and Trump, and we're going to talk about how do you do it? We're going to do it here in New Hampshire. We're going to do it in South Carolina. We're going to do it."
Nikki Haley, Haley Campaign Press Release - Nikki Haley on CNN: Donald Trump Can't Hide Forever Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/370400