Ron DeSantis says Trump is not 'pro-life' at Iowa town hall event

At tonight's CNN town hall, Haley was asked to explain her remarks yesterday when she told New Hampshire voters that “Iowa starts it, you know that you correct it.”

Haley, speaking in Iowa this evening, said she was “having fun” with the comment, which drew the ire of DeSantis and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.

DeSantis had called the comments “incredibly disrespectful” to Iowans in an interview with KFAB radio of Omaha, Nebraska, and suggested that “she’s trying to provide an excuse for her not doing well.”

Haley rejected that characterization tonight, framing her comments as “banter” between the early-voting states. “I think the problem in politics now is it’s just, like, too serious and too dramatic,” she said.

Haley again expressed regret for not including slavery in her answer about what caused the Civil War, but she pushed back against former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s remark that she did so because she is “unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth.”

“No one’s ever said that I am unwilling to offend,” she said at her CNN town hall event tonight. “I offend plenty of people, because I call people out when they do something wrong.”

She again said the omission in her earlier Civil War response was in part because slavery was a “given.”

“If you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery,” Haley said. “You grow up and you have — you know, I had Black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing.”

During CNN's town hall tonight, Haley was asked by moderator Erin Burnett about the effectiveness of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's efforts to transport migrants out of his state into Democratic-led cities like New York and Chicago.

"I think it's been hugely effective, because all of a sudden the rest of the country is feeling what Texans have had to deal with for so long," Haley said. "I went to the border, and truly what they deal with is unimaginable."

DeSantis has made similar efforts to relocate migrants out of Florida, drawing national attention in an effort to transport migrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, but Haley limited her response to Abbott's program, calling him "courageous" and crediting him with being "the first one to do it."

Asked about today's school shooting in Perry, Iowa, Haley focused her answer on improving the country’s mental health care system.

“We don’t have enough mental health therapists. We don’t have enough mental health centers,” she said at her CNN town hall event tonight.

She also proposed securing “schools the same way so we secure our airports and courthouses.”

Haley added that she's a concealed weapons permit holder and doesn't support stricter gun laws.

Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to South Carolina for an NAACP event on Jan. 15, the day of the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa.

"In her remarks, Vice President Harris will honor Dr. [Martin Luther] King’s fight for justice, and encourage attendees and all Americans to use their voice to continue fighting for justice and against attacks on fundamental freedoms," the White House said in a statement Thursday.

Harris will be participating in an official White House event, rather than a campaign event. The White House did not refer to the GOP caucuses in its statement.

Harris also plans to travel to South Carolina on Saturday for a speech at a church retreat — another non-campaign event.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a response today to Trump’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that a provision of the Constitution bars him from appearing on the state’s Republican primary ballot.

In a statement, CREW's president urged the Supreme Court to uphold the state court's ruling.

"The Supreme Court of Colorado came to the right conclusion in favor of our clients, and the U.S. Supreme Court must now uphold it. In defending this decision, we are working to defend American democracy," Noah Bookbinder said. He also urged the Supreme Court to "quickly" take up the case "to ensure that Colorado Republican primary voters like our client—and all Americans—have confidence in the eligibility of the people on their ballots.”

CREW is jointly representing plaintiffs in the case along with two law firms.

In response to the deadly shooting at a high school in Perry, Iowa, today, GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson called for additional on-campus mental health resources and more school security officers.

“This is really a mental health issue that we see. And so the focus really ought to be on giving our schools the resources to identify mental health challenges and to make sure that we have a proper response to those, that we have school counselors in place, that we have our resource officers that can identify and that you have threat response capability,” Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, told reporters after a campaign stop. "We need to get the facts before we really start casting judgment on this one.”

Asked what his message would be to parents who are scared to send their children to school, Hutchinson said it’s the government’s responsibility to keep kids safe in the classroom.

“I’m going to be, just like I did as governor, investing in school security, investing in school counseling and making sure that we give the states support for making sure the school is a safe environment,” he said. “I led a national study on this, and I understand this issue and how important it is to parents, that they drop off a child to school, that they’re going to be safe during the day.”

Haley is live tweeting part of DeSantis' remarks at his CNN town hall ahead of her own, which immediately follows.

She tweeted three times hitting DeSantis over his stance on Ukraine, arguing in one post that “he’s throwing Ukraine under the bus just so he can copy Trump.”

“Ron refuses to give a straight answer on what he would do in Ukraine. We need moral clarity in the White House, not dodging and dithering,” she said in another post on X.

In response to a question about abortion restrictions, DeSantis said tonight that Trump's track record shows he's not "pro-life."

“Of course not,” DeSantis said when CNN's Kaitlan Collins pushed him about whether he considers Trump to be “pro-life.”

“I mean, when you’re saying that pro-life protections are a terrible thing, by definition you are not pro-life,” he added, referring to comments Trump made about DeSantis’ six-week abortion ban in Florida in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."

DeSantis often takes Trump to task over his comments about abortion, particularly in Iowa.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., leveled criticisms at Haley and DeSantis while campaigning for Trump in Keokuk, Iowa, today, asserting that the former president's top two GOP rivals in the state would be unable to address issues at the southern border.

“You cannot trust DeSantis, and especially not Nikki Haley. Oh, my gosh. She didn’t even want you to call illegal aliens criminals. ... Unbelievable,” Greene said. “President Trump will secure our border.”

DeSantis kicked off his CNN town hall in Iowa this evening with an indirect dig at Haley, handing moderator Kaitlan Collins a University of Iowa basketball T-shirt bearing Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark’s last name. On the campaign trail in Coralville over the weekend, Haley mistakenly named the CNN anchor instead of the Hawkeyes guard.

“Respectfully, if the game’s on the line and we need a buzzer beater, I’m going with Clark over Collins,” DeSantis said tonight. Collins jokingly assured DeSantis that Clark’s free throws were better than her own.

The DeSantis campaign has been eager to highlight Haley's flub in the final days ahead of the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses. Earlier today in an interview with radio station KFAB, DeSantis joked that he should “congratulate” Collins “on that buzzer beater the other night,” referring to Clark’s game-winning shot against Michigan State.

Campaigning for his father this evening, Eric Trump surprised the crowd with a phone call to the former president, who was having dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

Midway through his speech tonight, Eric Trump asked the crowd whether he should call his dad, saying he always picks up the phone. The former president answered and quickly jumped into a campaign stump speech, saying he got Iowa farmers billions of dollars and accusing Biden of destroying the country.

Donald Trump spoke for a few minutes on speakerphone to the crowd of a couple of hundred in Ankeny and said he would most likely spend his time on caucus night in Des Moines.

In his goodbye to the crowd, the former president said, "We love you all, and I hope my son is doing a great job, because he always has done a good job."

DeSantis, at a campaign event in Iowa, faced tough questions from a supporter about his “soft” approach to Trump.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the chair of the House Republican conference, announced today that she was withdrawing her endorsement of Craig Riedel in a congressional race in Ohio after audio of Riedel talking about Trump leaked.

"I was very disappointed in his inappropriate comments regarding President Trump," Stefanik said on X. "As we begin 2024, my focus is on ensuring we nominate the strongest candidates on the ballot who are committed to electing President Trump this November and expanding our House GOP Majority."

The audio message was first obtained by conservative Charlie Kirk, whose organization Turning Point Action has endorsed Riedel’s rival, JR Majewski, for the House seat. In the message, posted to X in December, Riedel said he is not looking for a Trump endorsement.

"I don't like the way he communicates," Riedel told another person in the undated tape. "I think he is arrogant. I don't like the way he calls people names. I just don't think that's very becoming of a president."

Later, Riedel said the party needed to go in a different direction when another speaker on the tape asked him about Trump's primary run. Riedel endorsed Trump shortly after Kirk posted the audio to X.

In a 60-minute period today, with about 10 days to go until the Iowa caucuses, Trump fired off around 30 posts about E. Jean Carroll. Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, a magazine writer, in the mid-1990s and later defaming her after she made her accusations public.

Trump faces a second defamation trial, set to begin this month, centering on more recent comments. Trump told The New York Times he would testify in that trial, which would most likely fall between the Iowa and New Hampshire contests on the nominating calendar. Next week, in the final days before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, he also plans to appear in New York for closing arguments in his civil defamation trial, as well as in Washington, D.C., for an appeals court hearing in his federal election interference case.

The flurry of posts about his legal troubles risks being a distraction from other campaign messaging as the primary season gets underway, though Trump has also leaned into the courtroom battles on the campaign trail as he seeks a return to the White House.

A quarter of Americans believe the FBI “provably” or “definitely” instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, echoing baseless claims pushed by right-wing media, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found.

The poll also found that 11% of respondents believed there was “solid evidence” that FBI operatives organized and encouraged the riot, and 13% said they based that assessment on “suspicion only.”

In addition, 28% said Trump — who continues to push false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election — does not bear responsibility for the Capitol attack.

The poll was conducted Dec. 14-18 among 1,024 U.S. adults.

Trump has called for defunding the FBI and the Justice Department amid several legal battles he faces. The FBI has repeatedly denied claims of any involvement in the Capitol attack.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Great American Comeback, the leadership PAC aligned with DeSantis’ presidential campaign, has donated nearly $100,000 to a slate of Iowa legislators who have endorsed his White House bid, according to Iowa campaign finance records.

At least 14 of the 42 Iowa state legislators who have endorsed DeSantis received donations from the leadership PAC, ranging in individual sums from $2,500 to $15,000. The first donations were made in early October, followed by several more in November and another three in December, the campaign finance records show.

While other campaigns and leadership PACs have done that in the past, the practice is not overwhelmingly common. The disclosures provide the first glimpse at Great American Comeback’s spending since the DeSantis campaign began to use the group last summer. It can raise money in concert with DeSantis’ campaign, but there are restrictions on how it can be spent — and it doesn’t have to file a campaign finance disclosure form detailing its activity since July until the end of Jan. 31, after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.

Read the full story here.

CAMDEN, Maine — Republicans in the Maine House moved to impeach Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, over her recent decision declaring Trump ineligible for the presidency.

The effort, however, is unlikely to succeed, because Democrats have solid majorities in both chambers of the Legislature.

Groups of voters in Illinois and Massachusetts today filed separate petitions to disqualify Trump from this year's ballot in their states.

The petitions argue that the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his conduct surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol violated the Constitution's 14th Amendment, making him ineligible for office. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars a person from holding office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after having taken an oath to defend the Constitution.

Both petitions were filed on behalf of voters by the liberal advocacy group Free Speech for People, which has launched similar efforts in other states. Among the names on the Massachusetts petition was that of former acting Mayor Kim Janey of Boston.

Colorado and Maine have disqualified Trump from this year's GOP primary ballots. Both cases are being appealed.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., announced today that he would retire at the end of the year, making him the latest member of Congress not to seek re-election in November.

"It has been as honor to serve the great people of the Third Congressional District and State of Missouri these past several years," Luetkemeyer said in a statement. "However, after a lot of thoughtful discussion with my family, I have decided to not file for re-election and retire at the end of my term in December."

Luetkemeyer, 71, has served in the House since 2009. He's a member of the powerful Financial Services Committee, where he chairs a subcommittee, and he represents a deep red district where he garnered about 65% of the vote in 2022.

More than 30 House members have announced that they won't seek re-election because of retirements or plans to run for other offices.

DES MOINES, Iowa — DeSantis escalated his attacks on Haley this week, calling her “phony” and “a darling of the Never Trumpers” in a joint interview with NBC News and The Des Moines Register.

“I’m just thinking to myself, you know, ‘She’s phony.’ You know, she doesn’t have a core set of convictions,” DeSantis said, adding: “She’s coming in here. She’s trying to be relatable, but just doesn’t get Iowa. And I think that’s becoming more and more apparent."

DeSantis pointed to an incident last week when Haley called Iowa Hawkeyes basketball player Caitlin Clark the wrong name, saying “Caitlin Collins” instead, and a Haley statement in New Hampshire this week suggesting that state would “correct” Iowa’s choice later this month.

Read the full story here.

A group of House Democrats on Thursday called on conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a case involving Trump’s eligibility to appear on Colorado’s Republican primary ballot.

Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn a Colorado court ruling last month that disqualified him from appearing on the ballot over his conduct leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Hank Johnson, of Georgia, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s courts subcommittee, demanded that Thomas recuse himself from the case in a letter dated Thursday.

The letter says Thomas should recuse himself because his wife, conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, was an outspoken supporter of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Read the full story here.

Trump's attorneys are once again pushing to delay his federal election interference trial, telling a judge that special counsel Jack Smith and federal prosecutors should be held in contempt for filing motions ahead of deadlines and continuing to provide Trump’s team with discovery.

John Lauro — a Trump attorney who has argued that Trump’s election interference trial should be delayed until 2026 — filed a motion Thursday calling for the special counsel to be held in contempt for what Lauro called an “unlawful” production of discovery, accusing federal prosecutors of “partisan-driven misconduct.”

A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.

Read the full story here.

Most of the 2024 GOP presidential candidates on Thursday avoided any discussion of gun policy following a school shooting at an Iowa high school.

In the hours after the shooting at Perry High School, just outside Des Moines, several candidates offered condolences to the victims and to the community. All besides DeSantis shied away from discussing the role that guns played in the shooting, in which one person died and several others were injured. The shooter also died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, multiple law enforcement officials said.

Gun policy has not played a major role in the GOP primary. A November poll from NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom found that guns weren't one of the top 11 issues concerning Iowa Republican voters. The candidates have instead focused their stump speeches and debate answers on the economy, immigration, abortion and foreign policy, among other major topics.

Ramaswamy's campaign said it turned a pre-scheduled political event in Perry, Iowa into a "a prayer & open conversation" after a shooting took place at a nearby high school.

In a statement, Ramaswamy's campaign described the shooting as a sign of a "psychological sickness at the core of our country."

"We pray for the victims of the tragic high school shooting in Perry, Iowa. I happened to be there today right after it happened, we canceled our event and converted it to a prayer & open conversation," the statement said.

"Strikingly, the first two people who spoke to us each said they 'weren’t surprised' & that it was just a matter of time before something like this happened," it continued. "We have a psychological sickness at the core of our country right now."

Following a school shooting Thursday in Perry, Iowa, that injured at least five people, DeSantis offered his support to Iowa but said that dealing with such shootings “is more of a local and state issue,” declining to suggest any changes to federal law he’d support that would make them less frequent. 

The presidential candidate touted efforts in Florida to keep schools safe in a joint interview with NBC News and the Des Moines Register. “We obviously, you know, have a responsibility to create safe environments. The federal government is probably not going to be leading that effort,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis added: “I think it is more of a local and state issue. But we’ve shown how it’s done in Florida. The things that we’ve done have been very, very effective.”

Read the full story here.

House Republicans are starting their year with an aggressive push in their impeachment inquiry into Biden. Two sources familiar with the investigation tell NBC News that the Oversight and Judiciary Committees are planning to hold a closed-door transcribed interview next week with Georges Berges to discuss his involvement with the selling of Hunter Biden’s art.

Berges was subpoenaed by the committees after initially refusing to answer a voluntary request to appear. Berges owns an art gallery in SoHo and has a display of Hunter Biden’s art that is available for purchase. Republicans have accused Berges of using the sale of Hunter’s art to allow political associates of his father to support Hunter. Berges has denied their accusations. 

Republicans are also moving closer to scheduling a deposition with Joseph Langston, a business associate and disbarred lawyer who did business with James Biden, the president’s brother. A committee source tells NBC News they are working with Langston’s attorney to schedule a time to appear and where the interview will take place. 

Haley, who is not in Iowa today, reacted to news of the school shooting in Perry by saying, "My heart aches for the victims"

In a speech last night, Nikki Haley said that the results of the New Hampshire primary would "correct" the Iowa caucus.

Her statement drew criticism from Iowa officials and her fellow candidates. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis, posted on X: "I trust Iowans to make their own decisions. No 'corrections' needed!"

DeSantis called Haley's remarks “incredibly disrespectful.”

Former President Barack Obama is again appearing with his former running mate in a fundraising appeal, this time saying that American democracy depends on their support.

“We need your help to ensure Joe’s leadership continues to guide us forward. We know the other side won’t rest, so we can’t either,” Obama says in the newly released video. 

Biden echoes Obama, asking supporters to help him “secure a brighter future together.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noam said she would “absolutely” consider running as Trump’s vice president if asked, but said she hasn’t had a conversation with him or his campaign about it.

During a pull aside with NBC News at a Trump campaign surrogate event last night, Noem said she feels Trump “needs to have diversity around him” when asked if she thinks his vice presidential pick should be a woman.

A large crowd gathered at an event for Haley in New Hampshire last night. Haley has put more of a focus on New Hampshire than Iowa, where Trump is farther ahead in the polls.

Florida state Republicans yesterday filed legislation they've dubbed the “Kamala Harris Truth in Slavery Teaching Act” that would revise the state’s African American history requirements for schools.

The text of the bill says it would require “instruction on the history of African Americans to include a comprehensive account of the sociopolitical circumstances surrounding slavery, including which political parties supported slavery by adopting pro-slavery tenets as part of their platform, etc.”

The Florida Board of Education in July approved new standards for teaching Black history in public schools. Among new standards outlined in a 216-page document, teachers are advised to instruct students that "slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

Harris traveled to Florida in July and rebuked the Florida Board of Education for the new curriculum.

Two outside groups backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — Good Fight and Fight Right — are out with new TV ads today, touting DeSantis’ record on Covid-19 and bashing one of his opponents, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. 

The ad from Fight Right leans into Republican talking points about medical care for transgender minors and alleges that Haley “supports the radical trans agenda.”

The ad's narrator also accuses her of supporting gender reassignment surgeries for minors, which many Republican governors have outlawed in their states, including DeSantis. The narrator adds, “Donald Trump is no better,” before showing a clip of Trump saying, “Ummmmm,” when asked in an interview about transgender women competing in the Miss Universe pageant.

The ad from Good Fight also goes after Trump, alleging that during the pandemic, the then-president said, “Shut the country down and added $8 trillion to the national debt.” The narrator continues, “DeSantis stood for freedom and will do the same as president.”

The Good Fight ad also features audio of DeSantis at a recent rally, saying: “Trump is running on his issues. Haley is running on her donors’ issues. I’m the only one running on your issues.” 

PERRY, Iowa — Ramaswamy is expected to soon kick off a political event here, just a five-minute drive from what police say is an active school shooting. The Ramaswamy campaign has confirmed to NBC News that the “discussion and prayer” event is still on.

"Pray for the community in Perry, Iowa this morning," he said in a post on X.

Follow live updates about the shooting here

In a campaign ad released this morning, titled "I Have an Admission to Make", Chris Christie said that he "made a mistake" when he endorsed Trump in 2016.

Christie says he did so because Trump "was winning" and he thought he "could make him a better candidate and a better president."

This is a sharp departure from Christie's comments in a Vanity Fair interview last year, in which he said, "I don’t make any excuses or any apologies for that period of time." When pushed, he replied, "I can be wrong sometimes."

Marjorie Taylor Greene is scheduled to attend an Orlando-area Republican Party’s event commemorating the third “anniversary” of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

“A prominent MAGA leader, Congresswoman Greene is a staunch advocate for American priorities over foreign interests and special lobbying,” read a text message invitation from the Osceola County Republican Party.

Hours after Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn a state court’s ruling that he is ineligible to appear on Colorado’s Republican primary ballot, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold urged the high court to step in as the deadline to certify candidates looms.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, Griswold explained that Trump’s name will be on the ballot after he filed an appeal of the state court’s ruling.

As Biden prepares to deliver his first major re-election speech of 2024, marking the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, his warning about the fragility of America’s democracy will be front and center in the campaign’s first ad to hit the airwaves this year.

The Biden campaign says the new 60-second spot highlights “the existential threat our country’s democracy faces from the MAGA extremism that now defines the Republican Party.” It draws heavily from a prominent speech Biden made in Arizona last fall, when he said that the MAGA movement “does not share the basic beliefs in our democracy” and that it posed a threat to democratic institutions.

Read the full story here.

Trump won't be campaigning in Iowa today, but he will have Greene, R-Ga., and his son Eric Trump doing events on his behalf.

Ramaswamy will be doing six events in Iowa, while former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will be doing one. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be in New Hampshire.

DeSantis and Haley are skipping the trail in preparation for their CNN town halls tonight. DeSantis will also be doing an interview with NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns and Des Moines Register chief politics reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel.