Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Projects Trump Wins NH GOP Primary; Trump Speaks After CNN Projects He Wins NH GOP Primary; Haley Vows To Stay In Race. Aired 9- 10p ET
Aired January 23, 2024 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Let's have a key race alert now.
Donald Trump, the projected winner, of the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire. Trump easily defeating his very last- standing major GOP opponent, Nikki Haley.
Let's check out the votes. With 28 percent of the estimated vote in, Donald Trump is far and away in the lead, with 55.5 percent of the vote. That's 50,551 votes. It's about 11,000 votes ahead of Nikki Haley, who's bringing up the rear at 43 percent. Again, that's with 28 percent of the vote. And we are still waiting for most of the votes to come in. But we do expect Donald Trump to be the winner.
We're standing by, to hear Donald Trump speak, about his victory.
We heard from Nikki Haley, a short while ago. Here's a little bit of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The other day, Donald Trump accused me of not providing security at the Capitol, on January 6th.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Geriatric.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
HALEY: Now, I've long called for mental competency tests, for politicians, over the age of 75.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
HALEY: Trump claims he'd do better than me, in one of those tests. Maybe he would. Maybe he wouldn't. But if he thinks that, then he should have no problem, standing on a debate stage with me.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Tough words, from Nikki Haley.
Let's go to Kristen Holmes, who covers the Trump campaign for us. She's at Trump headquarters, in Nashua.
And Kristen, I don't suppose there is any second-guessing, about Trump's campaign strategy, to avoid all debates or interviews, with anybody, who might ask a tough question. But the gauntlet has been thrown down, by Governor Haley, this evening.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has. And I see -- or have no reason to believe that Donald Trump is going to take her up, on that offer.
I have asked about this numerous times, over the last several months, whether or not Donald Trump would ever participate in a primary debate? And the answer is no. They believe that their strategy has worked. They have seen nothing but an increase, in his poll numbers. And now, he has won both Iowa and New Hampshire.
They are not going to change tactic anytime soon. In their mind, the only thing that could happen in a date like that is something that would hurt Donald Trump. And right now, they don't see any reason that they have to give her an answer, or answer to her, since they still believe that they are the front-runner.
Now, I do want to say that for somebody, who earlier today said that he didn't believe that Nikki Haley was a threat, that he didn't care, if she stayed in the race or dropped out, he seems very angry, tonight, after her speech.
He's been on social media, ranting. He's called her delusional. He's saying that she got in third place, last week. He repeated that she shouldn't -- she said she had to win New Hampshire, and she didn't. Clearly, he is worked up about this. Now, I have been told by allies that he is annoyed that she's still in the race.
This idea, that, people have that if she drops out sooner rather than later, she might be able to save herself with Donald Trump. Donald Trump has been angry about her, and believes that she is disloyal, and said that in private for running already. So, it's something to keep in mind here that in terms of saving yourself -- she has been out there campaigning against him, which is a cardinal sin to Donald Trump, as we know.
And as we already heard, after Ron DeSantis, dropped out, endorsed Donald Trump, and then Donald Trump got on "Fox & Friends" and said that he wouldn't have DeSantis, in his administration.
So, this idea that she has to drop out, in order to please him is kind of hit or miss, and particularly when you see what he's posting, right now, in social media.
TAPPER: All right, Kristen, thanks so much.
Let's go to Kylie Atwood, right now, who is covering the Haley campaign. She is in Concord, New Hampshire. Boy, closing time, where you are, Kylie. No -- the campaign party is
over, I suppose.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, the room is quieting down. It was pretty loud earlier.
But listen, as Nikki Haley just got up there, and said, the race is far from over. When you talk to folks, in Republican circles, Republican donors, what they're saying, they're watching for closely tonight is what the margin, the final margin, actually looks like.
And the reason that they're watching for that is that I'm told that if she comes within single digits, of former President Trump, then it'll be much easier, for her, to gain momentum, to get more donors, to get more money that she needs. If she comes within double digits of the former President, it's going to be a lot harder, for her, to continue doing that.
Now, Jake, Nikki Haley doesn't have a money problem, right now. But this will matter, if they are trying to compete not just in South Carolina, but in those Super Tuesday states, which they are doubling down, tonight, saying that they will. Campaign aides are saying that she has done much better than people were projecting her to.
But we don't know what the final results are yet. So, we'll wait and see kind of what they see, when the final vote tally is actually in.
Now, Nikki Haley, for her part, headed to South Carolina, tomorrow. We know she has a big event there, tomorrow night. And when you talk to aides, they say that they've begun mapping out, campaigning in South Carolina, over the course of the next month.
[21:05:00]
But some of them privately acknowledge that those plans were going to be subject to what happens, here in New Hampshire. And that's why this final margin for her is really going to matter.
TAPPER: All right, Kylie Atwood, in Concord, with the Haley campaign.
And we're with John King, right now, at the Magic Wall.
And John, right now, Donald Trump has more than a 12-point lead, approaching 13.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Right.
TAPPER: Ahead of Haley.
We'll see how that shakes out towards the end. With 29 percent of the vote in.
We've been talking, you've been talking about Nashua.
KING: Right. TAPPER: And how Nikki Haley needs to do well, in Nashua, the second most populous township, in the State of New Hampshire. It looks red to me, right now.
KING: It is red, at the moment. And so, again, sometimes politics is complicated. Sometimes, it's the first math we learned, it's arithmetic, right? And so, you want to get more votes, where more people live, right?
And Donald Trump, let's start at Manchester. That's the largest city. That's the biggest possible vote -- vote pool, pool of votes, in the state. And Donald Trump is getting 57 percent, at the moment. And we're at 80 percent, there. So, he's winning where he needs to win, right? Blue-collar Trump voters, the largest pool of voters, doing exactly what he needs to do.
So, as we talked about, she needs to do -- so what's number two? Number two is Nashua. If somebody -- if your opponent's winning, number one, you better win number two.
TAPPER: Oof.
KING: We got a ways to go at 60 percent. But still, that's a gap. That's a gap.
TAPPER: Yes.
KING: So again, it's a -- it's you need to take away. He won this last time. You need to take it from him, if you got to get in the state.
Now, to Kylie's point, about the ultimate margin. We don't know which precincts these are out, out right now. So maybe when it comes back in, it gets closer, it gets closer some, and you can have a conversation with donors. That's a tough number.
Again, he's the -- you know, in her defense, he's the most formidable force, in the Republican Party. He was President of the United States, four years ago. And she's getting 43 percent of the vote. But that's still second place, which is important.
Across the bottom of the state, right, we're talking about this, as we go through. Another place, we're watching. We said, Nashua here. This is Hollis. It was another key Haley target. We don't have any votes yet.
So again, in the idea, can she make this a single-digit race? That's a conversation, that's a question we can't answer just yet.
Is Donald Trump going to win New Hampshire? Yes. Is Donald Trump going to win New Hampshire by a healthy margin? Yes. Will it be 13 points or 14 points? Or will it shrink down a little bit? That's the unanswered question.
At the moment, because you're starting to see the smaller towns, north of Concord, there's a few Haleys in there. But most of these, couple hundred votes here, thousand or so votes there, most of these are going to fill in, for Donald Trump. And so, that's what you're seeing. As these small towns start to trickle in, you're seeing the lead pad up.
Is there a possibility, in the somewhat larger communities, down here, including a couple of good medium-sized suburban areas, can she narrow with some? Yes. But Trump is going to win. And at the moment, it looks like he's going to win with a double-digit lead. The pundits, the pollsters, the fundraisers can debate, is that strength or weakness.
If you look at that map, right there, you see Donald Trump won Iowa. Donald Trump won New Hampshire. Donald Trump has a lead in delegates. Only 2.5 percent of the delegates. By the end of tonight, these two contests, only 2.5 percent of the delegates--
TAPPER: Yes.
KING: --will be awarded, right? So, there's still 93.5 -- there's 97.5, I'm sorry, percent of the Republican delegates, to be awarded. And the conversation is, is this race over?
So, you can understand Governor Haley, when she says that's preposterous.
You can also understand Donald Trump, when he says nobody's ever won, no Republican has ever won Iowa, New Hampshire before. I just did.
TAPPER: Yes. And also, just to defend Iowa, and New Hampshire, for one second, these are smaller states, where upsets can happen.
KING: Sure.
TAPPER: Upsets often do happen, in Iowa.
KING: Yes.
TAPPER: And John McCain upset things in 2000. Gary Hart upset things in New Hampshire in 1984.
KING: Yes.
TAPPER: I mean, the nature of these states allows candidates, who are not the Establishment.
KING: Right.
TAPPER: And I think, right now, we have an interesting dynamic.
KING: But -- right.
TAPPER: And that Donald Trump is the Establishment candidate. Nikki Haley, even if she represents the Republican Party of old, she's really--
KING: Right.
TAPPER: --the insurgent candidate. KING: I think you just made a critical point. She's the old Establishment. He's the new Establishment. She's trying to pull him back, to the old Republican Party. He's a movement. He's a movement. You're not going to beat a movement, with small ball. You're not going to beat a movement by being the thing he beat last time.
The way to beat Donald Trump, when you talk to Trump voters, especially the Trump voters, who don't like the chaos, who might be open to somebody else? If they convince them, they'd be as tough as Trump on the border. If they convince them, they'd be as good as Trump on the economy.
And I know Democrats are saying, what do you mean as good as Trump on the economy? COVID, we had the spike. Republican voters, like it or not, have this nostalgic memory of the pre-COVID Trump economy, where there was no inflation, where if you made $50,000 a year, you could save a little money. You might take the kids to Disneyland.
For these people, you take them across the board, I mean, this little amusement park, drive from Portsmouth, just over the line, in Maine, a little amusement park, where blue-collar dads take their kids, in the summertime. 6 percent inflation? You can't do that. You can't take them down to Fenway Park. That's what they remember. Inflation during Biden hurt them.
[21:10:00]
Nostalgic memories for pre-Trump. A Republican has to talk to them. You can't pull Trump back, you know, we should be the George W. Bush party. We should be Marco Rubio party.
TAPPER: Right.
KING: That's not going to work.
Trump is a movement. And his people, his people do not want to go back.
TAPPER: Yes. Well and -- but the bottom line is just the idea that yes, she represents the old Republican Party.
KING: Right. Right.
TAPPER: But she is -- her campaign is an insurgent campaign. And the odds are against any insurgent campaign.
KING: Right.
TAPPER: In our lifetimes, we've seen what? Donald Trump was an insurgent campaign, in 2016.
KING: Right.
TAPPER: He won.
KING: Right. TAPPER: Barack Obama was an insurgent campaign, in 20 -- in 2008. He won. But other than those two, in the last 20, 25 years--
KING: Right.
TAPPER: --insurgent campaigns tend to lose.
KING: They do. You could argue maybe Bill Clinton. Slide over, make a clean point.
TAPPER: I said, last 25 years.
KING: Yes, right, you're right, OK. If you go back, if you stretch it back to 30, you could argue Bill Clinton ran as a different kind of Democrat, didn't last very long. Obama said he was going to redefine the Democratic Party. Is Biden that? Didn't last that long.
So yes, Trump is a movement. The question is, how long does it last?
But to the challenge, the Haley campaign is saying, wait, she's going home to South Carolina. Wait, only two states have voted. They're absolutely right. They're absolutely right.
But maybe David Chalian wants to jump, as we go through this, here.
But again, only 2.5 percent of the delegates. We go on to Nevada. This will be a little confusing, because there's both the primary and caucuses, right? The caucuses are where all the delegates are. Donald Trump has the state party of Nevada, wired. He's going to get those delegates.
TAPPER: Right. And the Republican governor there--
KING: Right, yes.
TAPPER: --who is a Trump supporter.
KING: Yes.
TAPPER: And yes, I mean, he's--
KING: Right.
TAPPER: Again, Donald Trump is the Republican establishment.
KING: Yes. And so, then it's South Carolina. All the Republican establishment is with Trump. Let's see if Haley can use that to her advantage.
As she says? And she's right. When she came onto the scene in South Carolina, she was running against an establishment that wanted no part of her. When she was governor, she had a lot of fights with Republicans in the legislature. Let's see if she can bring that juice up.
Their argument is that's an open primary. Technically, it's open. There's no party registration, in South Carolina. But 20 to 25 percent of the people, over the past, in the past primaries, say they're Independents, when you look at that. Yes, it's a possibility. But it's not like a New Hampshire electorate. It's a much more conservative.
TAPPER: Yes, that's where--
KING: Yes.
TAPPER: --that's where John McCain's insurgent campaign, in 2000--
KING: Right, right.
TAPPER: --went to die.
KING: Right. One more point, Michigan comes next, and then all these other states, you get to Super Tuesday. There are a few open primaries in there.
Michigan has an open primary. Go to Michigan, wander around, asking Republicans what they think. They think Donald Trump won the 2020 election, more than Donald Trump thinks he won the 2020 election.
TAPPER: Let's go to David Chalian, with more exit poll information, about who was voting today, in New Hampshire, and what issues were foremost on their mind.
David?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, Jake, just as you and John were talking about, two critical issues, the economy and immigration, they rated above all else.
Among economy voters, 36 percent said that was their top issue, the most important issue, to their vote. Among those voters, they split 52 percent for Trump, 46 percent for Haley.
Now, among the voters, who say that economic conditions in the country are not good or poor? And by the way, that's nearly three quarters of the New Hampshire Republican primary electorate. 67 percent of people, who were sour on the economy today, and that's three quarters of the folks, went with Donald Trump. 31 percent went for Nikki Haley.
On the issue of immigration, 31 percent of voters said it's their most important issue. It was the number two issue, on the list, for folks, today. 77 percent went for Trump, among immigration voters. This is his strength, inside the party. 22 percent went for Nikki Haley.
And we asked, what about those who say that undocumented immigrants should be deported in the country, OK? That's 55 percent of the electorate. So, a majority of voters today said they should be deported. Trump wins them 76 percent to Haley's 24 percent.
This is the strength Trump is going to leave from New Hampshire with, and continue, to dominate the Republican process. These are the issues he's going to take to Joe Biden as well.
Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: All right. David Chalian, thanks very much.
Back with the team here, in New York.
David Axelrod, where does, tomorrow, where does this go?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think the Haley campaign has to go through the stages of grief here. They didn't hit their mark, in Iowa and New Hampshire. And they're heading into a really tough situation, in her home state.
But the pattern of these things is what we saw with Ron DeSantis, which is, you ease into that decision. You don't make it right away. And I think she's going to have -- it's been -- we've mulled over this before. There's a whole month before she gets to her home state. Trump will rack up more delegates in Nevada.
And if I were Donald Trump, tonight? I know you were asking me about Haley. I would write her right out of the script. I'd congratulate her, and all the other candidates, for participating, for their efforts. And I would say, now it's on to the battle that matters, which is Biden, and just make it clear that she's not really in this anymore.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But what a wild time? Just taking a step back. It was basically today, four years ago, Donald Trump was leaving Washington, D.C., disgraced.
[21:15:00]
The Capitol riot had taken place. He had lost to Joe Biden. He gets off on Air Force One. And the entire Republican Party establishment was writing him off. It was time to move on. Fox News had turned on him
In over the course of the last three and a half years, he has slowly taken back control of the party, and proved again.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well not that slowly.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Not that slowly.
CORNISH: Couple weeks, I think actually.
FARAH GRIFFIN: With the indictments, by the way, he has come back, as the dominant force, in Republican Party politics. And the voters are with him. That's the problem. That's what this comes down to.
Because as someone, a Republican, who can never support him, despite some of us testifying to the Department of Justice, testifying to the January 6 committee, the voters have said, yes, but we're still going to take a gamble with him. Then, we go on to the general election.
CORNISH: I think you're discounting--
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's a great reminder--
CORNISH: --negative partisanship. That is a real thing, right? Like, there are lots of people, who are like, I just so don't want the other guy, that it's fine, whatever my guy is doing.
And I do hear that with Republicans, with Democrats, like the idea of Biden is so off-putting to them, that they're going to forgive anything, just the same way for you, like the idea of Trump is just something that is feels unforgiving.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: How do you see--
CORNISH: And I think that's becoming a bigger trend.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes. And look, there's no question that partisanship underlies a huge amount of where this election is ultimately going to end up, in November. That is certainly true.
But I think, to Alyssa's point, and looking even at these numbers that David was just talking about, it's a good reminder that in campaigns, nothing is frozen, nothing is frozen in time. And you sort of you have a tendency to sort of get into the moment, and feel like the current dynamic is the dynamic that's going to exist.
But you had 34 percent of voters say that the economy was their most important driving issue for them. Well, we don't know what the economy is going to look like, in nine months.
We don't -- we continue to see things moving in the right direction. We continue to see people feeling better about the economy. If the economy is the thing that's driving people's frustration with Biden? Well, six months from now, seven months from now, that can look very different. So, it's important not to have--
AXELROD: And that is--
BEDINGFIELD: --tunnel vision.
AXELROD: --absolutely true. And the way voters react often lags the statistics.
The question for Biden is will voters give him credit, right? Right now, there's a dynamic, where they blame him for everything that's going wrong. And they say, well, that thing that, yes, maybe the economy is improving a little. But I don't think he had anything to do with that.
BEDINGFIELD: And that will be a -- look, that will be a challenge. And that's what his campaign will have to do, right? They will have to carve out taking credit for the things that are making people's lives better. That's not easy to do, because the inclination, as you say, is always sort of to--
AXELROD: Yes.
BEDINGFIELD: --to lay blame, but not assign credit. And that will be a challenge, for his campaign.
AXELROD: Yes.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Given that this is going to be a super-long general election, apparently, I'm sort of wondering how these two guys are going to wear on. I mean, already, the American people don't want this rematch. I mean, let's just acknowledge--
JONES: At all.
JENNINGS: --that the parties--
JONES: At all.
JENNINGS: --have given us a helping of a something off the menu that no one ordered. I mean, everybody said in the polling, they wanted something different. And quite easily, both party leaders dispatched, the opposition, and are going to be the nominees.
We're going to have a long general election. They're going to fight about the economy. They're going to fight about. And I just -- they already don't wear very well with most Americans.
JONES: Yes.
JENNINGS: And I just, I wonder--
JONES: Yes.
AXELROD: Yes, let's be -- let's be honest. I mean, you talk about what the job of the Biden campaign. And they do have to have a narrative, about where he's leading the country, and where Trump would lead the country. But this is going to be trench warfare. This is not--
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well and there's been--
AXELROD: They're going to be spending more time talking about Donald Trump than Joe Biden. And he's going to be spending a lot of time talking about Joe Biden.
COOPER: Are they going to be hiding in trenches? I mean, are they going -- is it going to be?
FARAH GRIFFIN: I mean.
COOPER: I mean, are they going to be on the campaigns? What is the campaign going to look like?
JENNINGS: Yes.
BEDINGFIELD: Yes.
AXELROD: Yes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: It is --
COOPER: Are there going to be debates?
FARAH GRIFFIN: It is going to be debates.
JONES: Right, right.
AXELROD: Well I think that's an open question.
JONES: If I -- if I were Biden, I would -- I would stay hidden. And I'll tell you why. He doesn't inspire confidence. And he's not a great messenger for himself.
He has done a tremendous job, with this economy. Union members, union leaders have -- are racking up win after win, they should be put forward. There are clean energy executives, in red states that are putting people to work, in solar, anything, they should be -- like, there's something wrong with this campaign, where we're somehow expecting Joe Biden, and frankly, he hid during the last campaign, to start come out now and be Flash Gordon, and save this -- his own campaign.
The people, who are benefiting, from the Biden economy, and they exist, should be empowered to speak.
BEDINGFIELD: Boy, I got to--
FARAH GRIFFIN: But not for--
BEDINGFIELD: Wait, wait, wait. I got to disagree with that.
JONES: OK.
BEDINGFIELD: I mean, we, I think in 2019 and 2020, there were -- there were doubts about whether Biden was the guy, who could take on Trump and win. I think Biden ran a very disciplined campaign.
I think, the sort of oh, he hid in the basement? Well, remember, we were in the midst of a global pandemic. We were in the midst of a once-in-a-generation crisis. And frankly, the way Joe Biden handled it was reassuring to people, and was a big part of the reason that he was elected president, in 2020.
JONES: Yes.
BEDINGFIELD: Because the contrast with Trump, and Trump's chaos, and Trump's inability to handle this crisis that came down the pike, when he was president, it showed people that Joe Biden was the right choice.
JENNINGS: But he--
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well and Biden--
JENNINGS: But he was saved--
FARAH GRIFFIN: But by the way--
BEDINGFIELD: So, the idea that Biden won in spite of himself?
JENNINGS: He was saved--
JONES: Right--
BEDINGFIELD: That's not borne out by the math.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I do think--
[21:20:00]
JENNINGS: What Van's saying, he was saved of the rigors of a long campaign. And this campaign is going to be lengthy. There's nothing -- there's nothing to save him now. They're both out -- they're both going to have to be out there.
COOPER: Well let me--
BEDINGFIELD: Have you watched that video of Donald Trump?
COOPER: Let me just ask Kate. Kate, what's the--
BEDINGFIELD: Do you believe that that's a person, who's going to be out and conducting a rigorous campaign--
JENNINGS: All I can -- all I can tell you--
BEDINGFIELD: --around the country, every day?
JENNINGS: All I can tell you is that I read the same polls you do. And 70 or 80 percent of Americans don't think Joe Biden has the mental acuity, to be president today, let alone for four more years.
BEDINGFIELD: And you see the--
JENNINGS: And you think the campaigns going to--
BEDINGFIELD: And you see Donald Trump--
JENNINGS: You think the campaign is going to make it better or worse?
BEDINGFIELD: I think when you see Donald Trump, in the spotlight, every day, doing things, like confusing Nikki Haley, who's running against, with Nancy Pelosi, and uttering sort of nonsensical sentences that don't make sense?
JENNINGS: He--
BEDINGFIELD: Yes, I think that is going to raise concerns, for people.
COOPER: Right, right.
JENNINGS: You might be right. But it's not a zero-sum argument.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well and the problem that-- COOPER: But well Kate, let me just ask you the -- CNN is reporting that some of the White House officials are now moving over to campaign. What's the significance of that?
BEDINGFIELD: Yes. Look, Jen and Mike are both people, who are very close to Biden. Mike Donilon has worked for Joe Biden, for 40 years, and is really his alter ego, is kind of his voice and his political North Star.
So, to me, as somebody, who has obviously worked on that team, very closely, it's not a surprise that Mike Donilon and Jen would ultimately end up in the campaign. That's -- they are the people who fundamentally make the political decisions, make the operational decisions. They have been in the White House, where they've had other responsibilities.
We've now come into the general election. They're going to the campaign, to focus all of their energy there. I think that's a good thing, for Joe Biden, to have people, who he trusts, who he knows, who are going to take the reins of an operation that's been building, over 2023, that has done good work.
And so, for them, I think this is the right time. And it is just, I think, it shows, again, we're at the starting gun of the general election.
AXELROD: Yes.
BEDINGFIELD: That's how the Biden campaign is thinking about it.
AXELROD: I think--
BEDINGFIELD: And these moves underscore that.
AXELROD: I think a lot of -- a lot of folks, Democratic operatives, and so on, would say these are really good moves, because these -- this can be a really tough campaign. And it's hard to do two jobs at once.
BEDINGFIELD: Absolutely.
AXELROD: They both had responsibilities, in the White House. Hers were quite extensive, administratively. They need their 100 percent presence, in that campaign, and interacting with the various elements of the campaign.
But to your other point, I just, look, I have said this many times. I think Joe Biden has done some really extraordinary things, and that history will shine on those. But his performance is a problem. And that is reflected in the polls. And what it translates into is an image of weakness. Whether that image is deserved or not, given all that he's dealt with, is a different question. But that is the reality.
There is a sense that the world is out of control, and he's not in command. And that is what Trump is going straight at. And that is what they have to defeat, in this campaign.
And they need a counter-narrative. And it isn't, I'm a great president, he was a lousy president. It's like, this guy is consumed by his past. He's not focused on you. Our guy is every day, earnestly trying to do things, to help. It's not to put up a Mission Accomplished--
COOPER: And Donald Trump is speaking--
AXELROD: --down.
COOPER: --Donald Trump is speaking now. Let's listen.
DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: We win it every time. We win the primary. We win the generals.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We've won it. And it's a very, very special place to me. It's very important.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: If you remember, in 2016?
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We came here and we needed that win. And we won by 21 points, and it was great.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And today, I have to tell you, it was very interesting, because they said, wow, what a great victory.
But then, somebody ran up to the stage, all dressed up nicely, when it was at seven. But now, I just walked up and it's at 14. But--
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But she ran up, when it was seven, and we have to do what's good for our party. And she was up, and I said, wow, she's doing like a speech like she won. She didn't win. She lost. And you know?
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Last -- last week, we had a little bit of a problem. And if you remember, Ron was very upset, because she ran up, and she pretended she won Iowa.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: And I looked around. I said, didn't she come in third? Yes, she came in third.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS) TRUMP: And then, I looked at the polls. She was talking about most winnability, who's going to win. And I had one put up. I don't know if you see it. But I have one put up. We've won almost every single poll, in the last three months, against crooked Joe Biden, almost every poll.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And she doesn't win those polls.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And she doesn't win those.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: This is not your typical victory speech. But let's not have somebody take a victory, when she had a very bad night.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
TRUMP: She had a very bad night.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
TRUMP: And you -- you have the -- you have the very -- the now very unpopular governor of this state. This guy, he's got to be on something. I've never seen anybody with energy.
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
[21:25:00]
TRUMP: He's like a hopscotch. And I'm watching this guy. And two weeks ago, he said, we're going to win, we're going to win in a landslide, we're going to win.
About three days ago, he started saying, well we want to do well.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: That's a big difference.
But I walked out just now, we're 14 points up. And I don't know what it's going to be.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
TRUMP: But when she was up here, it was like six or seven. And, with like, 7 percent of the vote counted, now, let me just tell you, we -- we had an unbelievable week, last week in Iowa. We set a record.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: It was the best in the history of the caucus. In the history. And I remember I sort of had the same feeling. I'm up, and I'm
watching. And I said, she's taking a victory lap. And we beat her so badly she was. But Ron beat her also. Ron came in second, and he left. She came in third, and she's still hanging around.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: The other thing, she only got 25 percent of the Republican votes. I don't know if you saw that. Tremendous numbers of Independents came out, because in this state, because you have a governor that doesn't frankly know what the hell he's doing, in this state--
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
TRUMP: --in the Republican primary, they accept Democrats to vote. In fact, I think they had 4,000 Democrats -- Democrats before October 6th. They already voted. Now, they're already voting because they want to make me look as bad as possible.
Because if you remember, we won in 2016. And if you really remember, and if you want to play it straight, we also won in 2020.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: By more. And we did much better in 2020 than we did in 2016.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: But as they said, we lost by a whisker, just by a whisker.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: No, no, no.
But we can't let that happen. You have to have people that speak up.
I said, I can go up, and I can say to everybody, oh, thank you for the victory. It's wonderful. It's wonderful.
Or I can go up and say, who the hell was the imposter that went up on the stage before, and like claimed a victory? She did very poorly, actually. She had to win. The governor said she's going to win, she's going to win, she's going to win. Then, she -- she failed badly.
Now I have here, if he promises to do it in a minute or less.
But the only person more angry than, let's say, me? But I don't get too angry. I get even.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: The only person--
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: The only person -- because he was there, and he did fantastically well, by the way, and then he endorsed me.
And we don't have to talk about Tim Scott, who by the way, just got engaged, we have to tell you.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And that's more important than all of this stuff.
But a man that got to know her very well is Vivek.
I said, Vivek--
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I said, Vivek, go up and say a few words about it. He has to do it in one minute or less. And then, we're going to just say, we had one hell of a night tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TRUMP: And one other thing, before Vivek comes. Do you see that poll? We're going to put it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it up.
TRUMP: We have beaten Biden. You could almost say, who can't? Who the hell can't?
(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: The man can't put two sentences together. He can't find the stairs off a stage. Who can't.
But Vivek, one minute or less. Go do it, Vivek.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
VIVEK RAMASWAMY, AMERICAN ENTREPRENEUR AND POLITICIAN: What we saw tonight is America First defeating America Last. That's what we saw tonight.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
RAMASWAMY: If you want America Last, you can go to Joe Biden. You got another candidate still apparently, in the Republican primary. Gut your Social Security to fork over more money to Ukraine, so some kleptocrat can buy a bigger house. Go to Nikki Haley.
But you know who delivered a double-digit victory tonight? It is a double-digit victory, as of right now.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
RAMASWAMY: Is this man Donald J. Trump, the leader of America First.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
RAMASWAMY: And that means something.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
(AUDIENCE CHANT "USA")
RAMASWAMY: Now--
(AUDIENCE CHANT "USA")
RAMASWAMY: USA and Donald Trump, America First.
Now, I got -- I got 30 seconds left. I want to make this point here, OK? We got to say this -- we got to say this right.
What we see right now with her continuing in this race is the ugly underbelly of American politics, where the mega donors are trying to do one thing, when we the people say another.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
RAMASWAMY: And it's up to us to, we, the people, to at long last say, hell no. We the People create a government that is accountable to us. And we the people have said, tonight, we want again, as we did in Iowa, Donald J. Trump.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
RAMASWAMY: And so, you want to actually speak truth. That's the truth tonight.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
[21:30:00]
RAMASWAMY: And the only thing they're rooting for is an ugly thing that we don't want to see happen. That's what these people are rooting for, is play into say long enough, so the Reid Hoffmans, and the ugly Democratic George Soros juniors, who are funding the lawsuits against Trump, can prop up their puppet. We say no to that vision.
I say, the general election begins, tonight.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
RAMASWAMY: And this man will win it in a landslide.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
RAMASWAMY: God bless you, Donald J. Trump. Vote Trump USA.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
(AUDIENCE CHANT "USA")
TRUMP: Very nice. Wasn't that nice?
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So, this was a great evening. And I want to thank everybody, in the audience. And I want to thank the people that are standing behind me.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You know, I think we called it right. Immigration is a big deal, a big deal, a very big deal. We have millions and millions of people flowing into our country illegally. We have no idea who the hell they are. They come from prisons, and they come from mental institutions. And it's going to -- it's just killing our country.
And I'm talking about millions and millions and millions. They are drug dealers. They're everybody. And they come in, just like walking right through. There's nobody to check. And there's nobody to vet.
And we have a man with us tonight, Tom Homan, who is--
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: --Central Casting. He's Central Casting.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And I'd like you to say a few words, about the border, and who's going to solve that problem. And how quick are we going to do it, Tom?
Go ahead, please.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
TAPPER: All right. Donald Trump -- former President Trump, giving the mike, to a second person, in his victory celebration, this evening.
The first one was former Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, who served as something of a hype man, for Donald Trump. I haven't seen anything like that since a Bundini Brown, used to do it for Muhammad Ali, back in the 70s.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Wow.
TAPPER: You like that?
BURNETT: Well.
TAPPER: I want to bring in -- he was the corner-man for Ali. He came up with, float like a butterfly sting like a bee.
Anyway, moving on. Let's bring in Daniel Dale, because I heard at least two or three things that need fact-checking.
Daniel Dale, obviously to start with the obvious. Donald Trump did not win in 2020. He lost that election. And that's been adjudicated over and over again. Although to the crowd he was speaking to, they believe it, even though it's a lie.
DANIEL DALE, CNN REPORTER: It's a lie. We've gone it over and over, as you said.
He also made a more specific false claim about elections. He said he's always won New Hampshire, not only in primaries, which he has, but in every general election. That's wrong too, Jake. He lost New Hampshire, in the 20 -- in the 2016 general election, to Democrat Hillary Clinton. Lost it again in the 2020 general election to Joe Biden. So, completely untrue.
He also claimed, Jake, something he's been saying in the lead up to this primary. That is that Democrats were able to vote.
In fact, only registered Republicans and people registered as undeclared, so, New Hampshire Independents were permitted to cast ballots, in the Republican primary. The deadline to switch your affiliation was more than three months ago, in early October. So no, Democrats, registered Democrats, were not voting in this election.
And one more thing, Jake. I heard him say that people are flooding in from mental institutions, across the border.
I asked Trump campaign for evidence of this claim, which he says at pretty much every rally. Find me some source, some anything to suggest that foreign countries are emptying their mental institutions, as he's claiming, to send people across the border as migrants. His own campaign could not find a single shred of evidence.
TAPPER: All right, Daniel Dale, if we'd run the whole speech, maybe you would have had more to do. But I appreciate your yeoman's work.
DALE: I'm sure I would have.
TAPPER: And I hope you're back from paternity leave, and ready to get to work, because we're going to have a lot to fact-check, in 2024.
And Erin, I think, one of the things that's interesting about Donald Trump's performance, this evening, is he's mad. He's angry. That was not a celebratory Trump. He's angry that Nikki Haley is still in the race.
BURNETT: Right.
TAPPER: He was insulting her. He was insulting voters of New Hampshire. He was insulting the process of the primary system there, which has been going on for, you know, back, it was going the same way back when Donald Trump was a Democrat. He went after the governor.
This is not gracious Donald Trump--
BURNETT: No.
TAPPER: --I'm going to be the nominee. Come let us all come together and heal.
This is, I am furious. Where's my hype man to do even more attacks--
BURNETT: Right.
TAPPER: --against.
BURNETT: The people -- the people arrayed behind him, and the whole.
TAPPER: Yes.
BURNETT: Even as, what's interesting is he did better than his own campaign had set the expectation for, right?
TAPPER: Oh, he did great. He should be in a good mood.
BURNETT: I mean, right. I mean, right. Kristen Holmes was saying they expected it to be seven points, which was a spin to say that--
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: There--
BURNETT: --oh wow, if it's close, seven points is a win.
PHILLIP: They came above expectations, yes.
BURNETT: Right now, as you know, everything's still being finalized, you're looking at something certainly in the double digits, Abby. So, he should be feeling good. But as Jake said, that's not the tone.
PHILLIP: He wants to add Nikki Haley, to the roster of people, standing behind him, who he defeated.
BURNETT: Yes.
[21:35:00]
PHILLIP: There's a reason that they're all there, the Vivek Ramaswamys, and the Tim Scotts, and whoever else. Trump wants to show his dominance, to prove it to voters, and to have people come, and kiss the ring. And the fact that Nikki Haley has not done that yet is a problem for him.
But I will say, Nikki Haley and her campaign, they're going to be huddling, probably every day, until that decision is made.
And in the meantime, all of the people around her know Trump's mood, tonight. And they see his anger. And they do not want to be on the other side of Donald Trump, if he is inevitably, as he looks like he might be the nominee to the Republican Party. That is going to be a huge pressure point, for Nikki Haley, as people try to not be the last person, to cross the line, over to the Trump column.
BURNETT: Yes.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: But compare the split-screen of what we just watched to what we saw, last week, coming out of Iowa. I mean, those are the two different Donald Trumps.
He came out of Iowa, like 2016, the happiest that I've probably ever seen him give a speech, when he came out and realized that he didn't have to worry about Ron DeSantis anymore, that Nikki Haley obviously came in third in that race.
And tonight, his fury was obvious, the fact that she is not getting out of this race immediately. She could get out before South Carolina happens, we don't know. But it was palpable, just how angry he was in that speech.
And one thing he said, he said that she was like an imposter, who came out and claimed victory, when she did not win, in New Hampshire. Who does that sound like? Who has claimed victory before--
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
COLLINS: --in a race that they did not win?
TAPPER: But also, that's not even true. She congratulated him.
COLLINS: That's--
TAPPER: She congratulated him for winning.
BURNETT: She did not, very graciously--
RAJU: But she -- but--
BURNETT: --and early on, in her speech.
RAJU: Yes.
PHILLIP: It is, yes.
RAJU: Yes. But look, her biting criticism--
BURNETT: But--
RAJU: --clearly got under his skin. I mean, the way that she mocked him, for confusing her with Nancy Pelosi, and questioned his mental competency.
And this is precisely why so many Republicans, even the ones, who are not, who don't want Donald Trump, to win the nomination, but now recognize that he is on his way, to do that, want this to be over? Because the longer this goes on, the more of that back-and-forth, this happens, the longer. And it gives the Biden campaign an opening to go after Trump, while Trump is battling this two-phase war.
COLLINS: But I also think Nikki Haley is different. Because something about her, in the last several weeks and how she's polled, especially in New Hampshire, and the fact that she's someone, who worked in his administration? She's gotten under his skin in a way that the other challengers have not, to the same degree. I mean, look at Tim Scott, who was standing right behind Donald Trump, tonight, after he endorsed him, after -- in recent days, right before, just as a dig to Nikki Haley. But I think it goes back to how Trump is viewing this.
And yes, it also questions her strategy of dealing with Trump, going forward. Because she was so gracious, when she came out. She had some mild criticism of him. I would not say it's very strong. But it does raise the question of what the next several weeks are going to look like.
TAPPER: Well, I actually, I'd disagree with you, because I agree with -- I agree with Manu. She basically said he wasn't mentally fit. I mean, like, there's no two ways about it.
COLLINS: She just said earlier today--
BURNETT: What, in that question, and Nancy Pelosi? It's hard to tell the difference.
COLLINS: She just said today that he was the president--
RAJU: Yes--
COLLINS: --when they had asked her that.
TAPPER: Well, no, I understand that. But I'm just saying like he's -- her -- she said Donald Trump couldn't tell me and Nancy Pelosi apart. I've said anybody over 75 should have a mental competency test. He says that he would beat me in that. Let's see him have a debate.
This is all personal to him. I'm not justifying his anger or his I-am- vengeance routine. But I'm just saying like, I can understand why he'd be upset.
BURNETT: Well I mean -- the one--
TAPPER: Well I'm being told I need to throw it to Dana Bash, in Manchester.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Jake.
Just picking up where they left off. I've never seen a victor so angry about it.
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Talk about grabbing defeat out of the jaws of victory. It's so interesting. We were listening earlier one of the other panels, David Axelrod was saying, if I were doing this, I would just not even -- I'd ignore Nikki Haley, and I'd say, I'm the nominee, and I'm--
BASH: Shockingly, he's not taking David Axelrod's advice.
KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Not taking the high road, specifically.
WALLACE: No, no. But the other interesting thing is I talked to some of the Trump people, today.
BASH: Yes.
WALLACE: That's exactly what they intended to do, to say, tonight, I am the nominee. And it's Joe Biden and me on. And clearly, he couldn't do it.
Now, maybe after we cut away from it, he did that. But people are going to remember the top of the speech, where he was clearly upset about Nikki.
BASH: Yes.
WALLACE: I mean, who the heck was that imposter who came on the stage?
BASH: Yes.
WALLACE: That's a line that will go down in Trump-lore.
BASH: Kasie, as I bring you in, I got a text from somebody, in Haley- land.
If they aren't concerned about her, why did they keep talking about her?
HUNT: Yes, I got -- I got a note, from someone else, in Haley-world, who called the speech, Trump's speech, weird, nasty and angry, which to Chris' point, I mean, this is an opportunity for any normal candidate, you would expect them to do exactly -- taking David Axelrod's advice exactly. And obviously, this, I think, is evidence that Donald Trump really can't let it go.
[21:40:00]
I've also never seen a candidate, in that kind of an environment, bring -- invite other people to talk. I thought that was particularly like -- and is he going to use Vivek Ramaswamy as a particular attack dog, against Nikki Haley, because of the things he was willing to say--
BASH: Yes.
HUNT: --on the debate stage--
BASH: It's exactly what that was.
HUNT: --that are like not a generally considered to be acceptable, in our discourse. Not that that's ever bothered Trump before.
But I mean, look, this is what we're in for here, for the next however many months.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Then, we're about to get the South Carolina version.
Because as he's -- I mean, as we've seen here, in New Hampshire, there's been a parade of South Carolina Republicans here. Tim Scott was standing behind him there. But Governor McMaster, obviously is a big supporter, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, will obviously play a big role in this.
But I was struck by also what you said, Chris, not by pivoting to the general. Because right here, in New Hampshire, this is a battleground state.
BASH: Yes.
ZELENY: And despite what he said, the people of New Hampshire know that he lost this state twice. He lost it in 2016, narrowly to Hillary Clinton. And he lost it again by about eight points to Joe Biden in 2020. They know that. So, this is a state that he will need, should he become the nominee. So certainly missed that opportunity, to be gracious.
But I think going forward again, talking to more Haley advisers, because the story of tonight is we've all seen many of these campaigns. As David and others were saying, it's impossible to make a decision, in the moment like this. They are still going to see how the donor support is going to be overnight. And perhaps that Trump speech might help it.
BASH: Yes.
HUNT: I think well--
BASH: You know what, Jeff?
ZELENY: That might help it. And still, the margin is still coming out. So, let's see what the morning brings.
She's still flying to Charleston. She has a rally, in North Charleston, tomorrow. And he may have just egged her on a bit.
BASH: It's funny you say that, because another text that I got, from somebody, who is affiliated with one of her Super PACs said exactly that.
ZELENY: Right.
BASH: That this speech by Donald Trump will help. Perhaps help. But they're hoping it will help. They'll certainly send out some mailers to try to goose the money to come in, the donations to her, to maybe keep her going a little bit longer.
WALLACE: Talking about the general election. Tomorrow, and when a lot of people thought that after the victory, the general election -- by Trump, in New Hampshire, the general election will begin tomorrow. 286 days. And clearly, it's not the general election, yet.
He's going to battle. I mean, whether he needs to or not, he's clearly going to keep battling Nikki Haley.
But the Biden-Trump general election, I mean, we're talking about the better part of a year. And I don't remember any general election that started--
ZELENY: It's--
WALLACE: --this early.
ZELENY: It's the longest. The second was, I believe, March 3rd of 2004, with John Kerry and George W. Bush. So, this is more than a month and a week longer than that.
WALLACE: Isn't that exciting, and something to look forward to that this is going to be?
ZELENY: So exciting, it is.
BASH: How many days, did you say?
WALLACE: 286 days tomorrow, until Election Night.
BASH: And it's only going to feel like--
HUNT: Yes.
BASH: --286 years.
HUNT: And just keep in mind that everyone in the country, it seems, according to our polls, is dreading that, right? I mean, this is going to be the kind of slog.
And the Biden team, I mean, you're already seeing them, try to tell people, to get people -- they're counting on people being afraid of Donald Trump becoming president again, right? They're trying to, even more than Donald Trump himself, say that Donald Trump has won this nomination, tonight, and how they're approaching things, so that they can try to get that underway.
ZELENY: So many uncertainties, though. I mean, for all the talk about the 286 days, think of all the things could happen, the court cases, other things.
BASH: Yes.
ZELENY: So perhaps there's a bit of deflection there, in the former President's speech as well. I mean, a lot of deflection as always. He was supposed to be back in court, tomorrow. That's not happening, apparently, because of a sick juror again. But he'll spend a lot of those days in court.
So, we may think we know sort of the makeup of the general election, now. We'll see. We'll see what Nikki Haley does. But we have no idea what's to happen, in terms of the -- all the uncertainties hanging over both of these candidates.
BASH: I mean, we were joking about the fact that it is early, and about the fact that a lot of people, in this country are saying, oh my gosh, could this be happening again. But it is so incredibly important, and people are going to be paying -- if they're disgusted or not, we'll see what happens. But they are going to, hopefully feel how critically important this is going to be, over the next year.
HUNT: Well, and I think, one of the numbers that came out of Iowa? And we saw a little bit of it, it's flipped around in New Hampshire. But that number of people, who think that Donald Trump is going to be disqualified, if he's convicted on one of these things?
I continue to believe that when you look at that number, it means that the imperative for Donald Trump, as a candidate, if he wants to win the presidency, again, is to cut down institutions, to the point that there is no credibility, in a conviction. You've seen him do it effectively with his own base. And I do think it just presages a very ugly general election season.
BASH: OK. Look, Donald Trump is closer to a rematch with Joe Biden, tonight. We're going to look ahead, to that potential race that we've been talking about here, and how strongly Nikki Haley's argument that both men are too old resonates with voters.
We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:48:56]
TAPPER: And I have a key race alert for you now. Let's check in on the big board.
44 percent of the estimated vote in, from the Republican New Hampshire primary. Donald Trump is still ahead, 54.4 percent of the vote, he has 78,575 votes. That's about 15,000 more votes than Nikki Haley, who is in second place, in the two-person race, with 43.9 percent of the vote. Donald Trump has about a 10-point lead, on Nikki Haley, as of right now.
And let's go to the White House, right now, where MJ Lee has the Biden camp's reaction to Trump's victory, and what happens next.
MJ, the statement, put out by the campaign manager, suggested that they think the Republican race is over.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very much over.
And in fact, they made it very clear that Nikki Haley's decision, to stay in the Republican race, is basically a non-factor for them. They said that they are full steam ahead, to the general election.
[21:50:00]
But one senior Democrat that I was just talking to said that the Biden campaign could see it as a basically welcome news that Haley is going to stick around for longer, because presumably she's going to stay in the race, and continue attacking Trump, and force him to keep spending money, while the Biden campaign can obviously exclusively focus on the general election.
One other thing that I think is just worth noting is that even as of earlier today, the official line, from the Biden campaign, was that they were prepared, to run up -- run against any Republican candidate, whether that is Donald Trump, or Nikki Haley.
And when it comes to Haley, the Biden campaign and the DNC, they've had opposition research on her, well before starting when she even officially got into the race, about a year ago.
But after tonight, I think that's not a line that we are going to be hearing, from the Biden campaign. They have made it so crystal clear that they are just squarely focused, on Donald Trump, right now. So, that Nikki Haley opposition research binder, I think the Biden campaign is making very clear, tonight, that they are ready to set that aside.
TAPPER: All right, MJ Lee, at the White House for us.
Anderson?
COOPER: Jake, thanks.
Back to the team, here in New York.
Scott, if you were advising the Trump campaign, what, for the next 100 days, the general election look like?
JENNINGS: I was just thinking about what to do next. If Haley does go through with this, would I actually pay any attention to her or not, in South Carolina? I mean, it's probably true she'll have some support in her home state.
He's employed two different strategies so far, in Iowa. He focused almost exclusively with his ads on Biden. But in New Hampshire, he hammered Nikki Haley, and went after her personally.
So, I think what they decide to do in South Carolina will be telling. But if I were--
COOPER: That seemed to be the strategy, tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Well and whether -- and obviously, they weren't listening to Axe.
AXELROD: No.
CORNISH: To follow up -- to--
AXELROD: I think he went out before I got to speak.
CORNISH: To follow up on what MJ was saying, maybe the Biden folks aren't going to be paying attention to her.
We just heard Trump further along in that speech talking about getting even, making innuendo about there are some things in her past that won't come out. We've seen him talk like this before. JENNINGS: Yes.
CORNISH: And this is--
JENNINGS: He's angry.
CORNISH: Yes.
AXELROD: Yes.
CORNISH: But this is also the version of him, we'll all start to remember, right, the one, who is speaking exclusively about retribution, innuendos that are unproven, and even saying things like, Daniel, Dale fact-checked about winning campaign -- winning elections, you did not win. I think some of this is going to start to jog the memory of a lot of voters.
JENNINGS: I mean, the question is, is your irritation, going to get in the way of better judgment, about what is the correct pivot, to the general election here? And--
AXELROD: It would be an unprecedented thing, if his irritation got the better of him.
But can I just say one thing about the Biden White House statement? I think they do want to run against Donald Trump, because he's a deeply flawed candidate.
He probably would welcome the statement they put out, tonight. Because basically what they're saying is, or maybe -- maybe it was just what they said to MJ, but to basically say, yes, we'd like her to stay in, because she's going to -- she's going to dirty him up, for one more round, and that helps us, is probably the same argument that Republican officials are going to be making, about why she should get out of the race.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, and that's exactly it. You're going to start hearing from more and more Republicans, who are going to say she's helping Joe Biden, by going after Donald Trump, and continuing this race.
But here's the reality. We are -- we're back in hell. We're having the race most likely that most Americans didn't want. Six in 10 did not want the Trump versus Biden rematch.
And I do think that Trump, he is the most undisciplined politician I've ever worked for. He does not take guidance. And despite having actually fairly professional team, right now, he's going to get out there, and he's going to remind us why he's exhausting, why he's vengeance-driven, why he's backward-looking. And that is the best thing for Joe Biden.
Because Joe Biden is a historically weak candidate, right now. His numbers rival Jimmy Carter's, after he didn't win reelection. So, what we're basically seeing is a race, for who is more tolerable, at this point. I don't see vision on either side. I don't see people trying to bring in coalitions. It's basically going to be hold your nose, and who are you going to vote?
BEDINGFIELD: And--
COOPER: Let me just play what Nikki Haley said, part of her speech tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: Most Americans do not want a rematch between Biden and Trump.
(AUDIENCE RESPONDS WITH "NO")
HALEY: The first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins this election.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS & APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Look, I liked that line. And I do think it's a long shot for her. But still, right now, the main barrier between Donald Trump and the White House is somebody named Nikki Haley, and somebody named Joe Biden. That's what it is.
And so, if she wants to stay in this race, I don't think we should beat her up too bad for it. I think she's doing the country a service to keep this conversation going. I do think more and more he looks like a coward not being willing to even debate her.
And I'm watching the Republican Party, do the opposite of what the Democratic Party did, four years ago.
We had somebody in our party, Bernie Sanders, who was an outside-the- box threat to the establishment of our party. We cleared the field to make sure we had a normal Democrat, Joe Biden ready, to go.
[21:55:00]
This Republican Party is doing the reverse. They have cleared the field, to make sure that Donald Trump is going to be the heir- apparent. They cleared the field -- somebody who's got 91 felonies, somebody who led an insurrection against our country, somebody who cannot tell the truth if you paid him to do it. And you are literally seeing the Republican Party clear the field for him, everybody's now going to stand up and kiss the ring.
There is one Republican in this country, still standing up against him. Her name is Nikki Haley. And I'm proud of her.
AXELROD: The question, Van is, she's sort of -- she remembered, in the last 48 hours, before the primary, a bunch of stuff that she realized were deficient in Donald Trump. For the longest time, in this campaign, she tried to soft-pedal that.
And even now, some of the things that are most egregious, about a man, who is currently awaiting trial, for trying to overturn a free and fair election, she won't talk about that stuff. So, she tries to split the thing to--
JONES: Yes. That's been an issue.
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: She found it.
AXELROD: Yes. And that's been a problem.
JENNINGS: She found it, because there's an audience, in New Hampshire, they can come into this primary and respond to it. She will now forget it, I assume, because the future map doesn't contain that same audience, I mean.
AXELROD: Yes.
JENNINGS: I mean, look at what happened with the Republicans.
AXELROD: Yes.
COOPER: Nikki Haley pledging to stay in the race, despite losing the first head-to-head match-up, with the Republican presidential race coming up. We'll speak with a key Trump endorser, from her home state, about that decision, South Carolina senator, Tim Scott.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:00:05]
TAPPER: Donald Trump, the clear winner of the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, this evening.
The former President tightening his hold, on his party, with what is currently a double-digit lead, over his only major Republican opponent now, Nikki Haley.
