Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner disputed Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s claim that nobody aside from the media is talking about her Civil War gaffe.
Haley received scrutiny for not mentioning slavery as a cause of the Civil War during a Dec. 27 town hall in New Hampshire. The former United Nations ambassador said the war’s cause came down to the “role of government and what the rights of the people are.”
Haley said she should have pointed to slavery in her answer, and then argued the media is the only one talking about her answer.
“No, that’s actually not true,” Faulkner said.
“Not one person on the ground in Iowa, not one person on the ground in New Hampshire or Iowa are talking about it. I’ve done multiple town halls. We have done 150 town halls. I answer every question from Republicans, from Democrats, from Independents. And I’m happy to talk about this,” Haley said. “We have a deep history in South Carolina, when it comes to what we’ve dealt with slavery, when it comes to the fact that I had to deal with a shooting by an unarmed black man who was shot seven times in the back from a dirty cop. We passed the first body camera bill in the country. We brought down the Confederate flag.”
Haley defended herself against a former staffer to past presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who said “She should’ve been able to answer the damn question.” (RELATED: ‘Not Ready For Primetime’: DeSantis Criticizes Nikki Haley’s Response To A Civil War Question)
“I will tell you that people in South Carolina know me and it’s amazing how you’re gonna take one question out of 150 where I said immediately, ‘Yes, I should’ve said slavery, that’s a given.’ One hundred and fifty town halls I’ve done, Harris. So one question, I should’ve said slavery, I didn’t do it, I immediately, the very next day, came out and said I was wrong,” Haley said.
Haley previously said the questioner at the town hall is a “Democrat plant.”
“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” she said on a New Hampshire radio show. “When I asked him, he didn’t want to answer. He didn’t give reporters his name.”
Haley further said in the interview she did not mention slavery as a cause of the Civil War because she tried to explain what it means “for us today.”