Haley and DeSantis come out swinging in GOP debate
With the 2024 Iowa caucuses looming, Republican Party candidates for president squared off on the debate stage at Drake University in Des Moines
Host network CNN announced that only three of the candidates made the cut — former president Donald Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie failed to pass the threshold to appear on the debate stage this time round, marking the first time they won’t be taking part.
With just hours to go before the debate, Mr Christie suspended his presidential bid and was heard on a hot mic calling DeSantis ‘petrified’ and predicting Haley will get ‘smoked’.
With no Mr Trump (he had a town hall over on Fox News), Ms Haley and Mr DeSantis went head-to-head with CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash acting as moderators.
In one testy moment, Ms Haley branded the Florida governor as “just so desperate”. Throughout the night, she repeatedly plugged her new desantislies.com website.
Both candidates did attack Mr Trump at times and agreed he should be there on the stage.
