ABC News canceled the Republican primary debate scheduled for Thursday in New Hampshire. The decision came after former UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced that she would not be part of the debate unless Donald Trump showed up.
The television station had intended to host a debate following the Iowa caucuses that would be moderated by hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis. However, the situation changed when Haley said she would not participate in Trump's absence.
"Our intention was to host a debate starting with the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would depend on the candidates and the outcome of the race," an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement.
Haley, who placed third in the Iowa caucuses with 19% of the vote, shared in a statement that Republicans had already participated in "five great debates in this campaign" and that Trump participated in none of them. For this reason, she decided not to participate in any other debate that did not have the presence of the former president or Joe Biden.
We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 16, 2024
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis responded to Haley's announcement with another post on X in which he criticized the candidate for "not wanting to answer the tough questions."
According to DeSantis, Haley is not running for the nomination but to be Trump's vice president. "Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn't want to answer the tough questions (...) I won't snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments," he said.
Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina.
The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to…
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 16, 2024
Trump, for his part, has largely ignored the criticism and instead mocked his presidential election adversaries, highlighting his lead in the polls.
It should be noted that despite the cancellation of ABC News, CNN is still planning to hold a debate in New Hampshire on Sunday.
