Next Republican debate cancelled after Nikki Haley pulls out saying she wants Donald Trump on stage
File photos of Nikki Haley (left) and Donald Trump (right).
The next presidential debate has been cancelled after former UN ambassador Nikki Haley said she would not appear on stage unless Donald Trump participates, ABC News announced on Tuesday (Jan 16).
The former US president has refused to be part of the Republican primary debates, arguing there was no point, given his large polling lead.
Speaking about her refusal to take part in the next debate, Haley said:“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.”
The development comes a day after the Iowa caucuses where Trump emerged victorious, gaining over 50 per cent votes while Ron DeSantis and Haley occupied the second and third spots, respectively.
With Haley opting out, it left only DeSantis for the debate, forcing ABC News to pull the plug on the entire programme.
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“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” ABC News spokesperson Van Scott said in a statement.
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DeSantis attacks Haley
Even the last debate featured only Haley and Ron DeSantis with the former not performing as expected. Consequently, Haley lost Iowa to DeSantis who managed to make up forlost ground in the nick of time.
The Florida governor took the opportunity to target Haley once again and said she was afraid of the competition.
"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 be Trump’s VP," posted DeSantis on X (formerly known as Twitter).
"I won’t snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments. I look forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week," he added.
Haley's decision also casts a shadow of doubt on the New Hampshire debate, scheduled for Sunday (Jan 21) on CNN.
(With inputs from agencies)