teresa's organization, to would be an honor to get to pray with you. >> it takes a lot of faith to talk about doubt. thank you for joining us on sunday night we wish you all the best. >> glory to goad. god, i hope ya great week aad. good night from south carolina ♪ ♪ if. ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause]

john: welcome to columbia, south carolina, where we've got an enthusiast you can crowd -- enthusiastic crowd. 50 delegates up for grabs, winner take all which makes this a very important contest. i'm john roberts in this evening, former south carolina governor and former u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley is with us. first, a look at some of the headlines that we're following. former president trump slamming a new york judge for fining him more than $350 million in his civil fraud if trial and banning him from running companies in the state for three years. the former president denied overvaluing his properties on financial statements. he says that the ruling will make businesses leave new york. listen here. >> the decision yesterday in new york, you may have read about it, crooked judge, crooked judge. [background sounds] he's a crooked judge. by a radical left-wing judge was a lawless and un'sal a atrocity.

it's a sham case. there were no vix, no defaults, no damages, no complaints, no nothing. there was nothing. john: president biden apparently mixing up ukraine and nato as he was making the case for more military aid to that country. watch here. >> so it's about time we make sure that congress come home, pass the legislation funding nato. john: and a positionman for russian opposition activist alexei naval is demanding the government hand over his body, accusing moscow of lying about how he died. the prison service says navalny felt sick and passed out after taking a walk. a spokesman calls it murder. alexei navalny was just 47 years old. all right, let's bring in the former south carolina governor and u.n. ambassador, nikki haley. [cheers and applause]

governor it's good to spend time on -- with you one-on-one. you've been in the studio on occasion, but it's good to spend a good amount of time with you. >> thank you. it's a great day in south carolina. welcome. wouldn't john always enjoy south carolina. [applause] we've got a number of questioners who are going to ask questions, some of them have already decided to vote for you, some of them haven't is. some of them are on the fence including this young man, asa forest, he's from greenville. he's a senior in high school. he's leaning toward voting for you, so we'll see if you can close that deal. his first time voting, by the way, folks. he turned 18 just in september. [applause] asa, take it away. >> hey. what message do you plan on sending to putin and other world leaders when you get into office about the united states position in world affairs? >> i think the first thing you need to know is we're so proud of you that you're going to be voting.

this is going to be the first time you've really shown the power of your voice at the ballot box, so that's a great moment for you. the second thing i'll say is, look, when you look at what putin has done, we have to remember russia is not our friend. if putin's mouth is open, he is lying. and if we need to be aware of that. and i think that's why it was so damaging when trump said that he would choose putin and actually encourage putin to invade nato allies instead of standing with our allies that stood with us at 9/11. putin knows exactly what he did with navalny. you look at that situation, this is what he always does. he murders his political opponent, he a arrests american journalists and holds them hostage, and he has made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy america. and so the best thing we can do with russia is let them know we're on to them and make sure they know we'll hold them to account on anything they do, and that the includes are hurting our allies. thank you.

[applause] john: [inaudible] you have been very critical of what former president trump said about nato. a number of years ago when he was trying to encourage countries and really trying to twist their arms and get them to spend 2% of their gdp if on defense. in terms of his comments about i would let russia do whatever the hell hay wanted to you, the secretary-general, jens stoltenberg, of nato was asked about that last week and he said, quote: the criticism that we hear is not primarily about nato, it's about nato allies not pending enough on nato. that's a salad point, and it's a point on -- valid point, and it's been conveyed by successive u.s. administrations. the european allies and canada have to spend more because we haven't seen burden-sharing in the alliance. i remember there was a lot of pearl clutching and hand-wringing back then when president was leaning on other countries. jens stoltenberg was quite happy because suddenly billions of dollars was coming over to help

fund its defense. >> well, and i'll say that i will absolutely put the hammer on our nato countries that they do have to carry their weight. but you do that behind closed doors. you let them know that the united states is not going to carry the burden. you don't do it in the eyes of our enemies. right now nato has been a 75-year success story. we haven't had war in the region because they've stood so strong. russia's actually very intimidated by nato. china's intimidated by nato. but the one thing we don't do is we don't leave our brothers and sisters who make us strong. with we don't separate ourselves from our friends in the name of trying to appease an enemy. that's what the europeans did, and that's what's gotten them into this situation in the first place, is they tried to appease russia. instead we should be strong about russia, we should make sure we tell our partners it's in their best interests and the alliance's best interests to pull their own weight, and we should make them do that. there's a way to do it the right way and there's a way to do it

the wrong way. and the way trump did it, by saying he was going to encourage putin to invade our allies, that's the wrong way, and it makes the situation much more dangerous. john: you've said in recent days that the former president is siding with a thug. however, in an interview with cbs, may 6th, 2018, you said this of the former president: i don't think that people are fair if to what the president has done because, first of all, russia a has been a tough friend to have. he's given military equipment to ukraine. he basically expelled 60 russian spies which no other country has done. he beefed up our military, beefed up our energy system, all of which russia doesn't want. he keeps kicking them constantly. that's a very different description of donald trump than you've been giving in the last few days. >> but the point is this is not personal about donald trump. this is the about what's right for the united states. and when you look, there were a lot of things that donald trump did well. putting sanctions on them was a good thing. we wanted to make sure we gave missiles and equipment to ukraine so they could defend

themselves. those were all good. there were things that he did pg wrong. his press conferences in helsinki when he was trying to buddy up with pilot, i called him out for that. i explain that deeply in my book with, how he was completely wrong because every time he was in the same room with him, he got weak in the knees. we can't have a president that gets weak in the knees with putin. we have to have a that's going to be strong with putin in every sense of the word. and so what we saw was inconsistencies. and what's worse is i was really proud of trump when he gave that equipment to ukraine to defend themselves. i am crind by disappointed in trump that now he's walked all of that a back and now he's actually putting the ukraine in harm's way which is putting the united states in harm's way. let's not forget, putin said once he takes ukraine, poland and the baltics are next. if that happens, those are nato countries, that puts america at war. that is what we're trying to prevent. we have to prevent war. john: all right.

another question from one of our esteemed audience member, janet from columbia. he says that she is voting for you. she's retired, she's 64 years old. janet, take it away. >> john roberts, did you have to tell my age? [laughter] >> hi, janet. john: i apologize. >> no worries. welcome back to columbia, governor. >> thank you. goo good to see you again -- good to see you again. my question is regarding our borders. right now they are wide open, and taxpayers are forced to pay for all the living and social services for people that have illegally entered our country. how will you stop and then reverse all the illegal immigration? >> thank you for that question. you know, our borders right now is a huge national security threat, and i think that let's go back to what we did together in south carolina. when i was governor, we passed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country. president obama if sued us other it, and we won.

we need to take what we did in south carolina and go national with it. 8.5 million illegal immigrants have crossed that border. we've had nor fentanyl across the border that would kill every single american. number one cause of death for adults 18-45, or fentanyl. and don't think for a second china doesn't know what they're doing when they send it over. so we would do a national e-verify program that would require every business to prove that the people they hire are in this country legally. we will defund sanctuary cities once and for all. no more safe havens in america. we'll put 25,000 border patrol and i.c.e. agents on the ground and let them do their job. we will go back to the remain in mexico policy so so that no with one even steps foot in the u.s. and instead of cash and -- catch and release, we'll go to catch and deport. that is what will happen at the border. but, john, let's talk about what didn't happen last week. here was an opportunity for congress to go and pass

something that would have secured our border. now, the bill that was, that came forward was not perfect. the thing it did right, it strengthened asylum laws. we have to do that. 3 million illegal immigrants came urn trump's watch because our asylum laws weren't strong enough. the thing that was weak is it didn't have the remain in mexico policy, and it had a 5,000-person threshold. we can't allow a 1-person threshold. but the problem is that congress needs to go in there and stay in d.c. until they figure it out and get it right. we can't wait one more day to secure that border. but the other side is president trump -- [applause] but the other side is president trump went and told the republicans, don't pass anything until the general election. we can't wait on that. america's acting like it's september 10th. we better remember what september 12th felt like.

it only takes one person for a 9/11 moment. and instead, congress has left, they have gone on break for two weeks, and that is wrong on everyone's part. congress needs to get in a room and figure it out and do it the right way, and president trump needs to stay out of it and let us secure our border. [cheers and applause] john: -- if i could, governor, on that point, president trump said in michigan yesterday to workers that the biggest threat that they face not necessarily from china, not necessarily from putin, but from people coming across the southern border who will take their jobs. and a lot of people are wondering, what would you do to stop people from coming across the border illegally? and further porks what would you do with the some 16.8 million people who currently are in this country illegally? i remember debating this back in 2012 when there were half that number. >> i think the first thing is exactly what i just said in terms of closing off the border. that's hugely important.

the second thing is understanding that we don't have to choose between supporting ukraine and israel and securing the border. securing the border's priority number one, but we can do both of those at the same time, and that's really important that people understand that as well. but i'll also say that goes to the heart of you should see the commercials donald trump is running in south carolina. if he's saying that i'm not for securing the border. well, first of all, if we pass the toughest illegal immigration law in the country when i was governor of south carolina, we absolutely want to secure the border. and if you want to protect people's jobs, the first thing you do is don't let them cut the line. but if he's going to lie about a me, i'm going to tell the truth about a him. [laughter] [applause] donald trump needs to answer whether he thinks putin is responsible for navalny. donald trump needs to answer to the fact that why hid -- did he propose an 18-cent-per-gallon

gas increase in 2018 when he was president? why is he saying he's not going to touch social security so by the time he leaves everybody's going to get a 24% cut? those are legitimate questions that we should be asking. we all deserve that right. why is he saying now he's going to tax every american family by increasing tariffs on all the goods from anything -- on anything from baby stroarls to appliances? they're going to cost every american family more than $2800 a year. those are the questions we need to answer. i would ask him myself but he won't debate me. [laughter] [applause] john: governor, we will talk about social security and the plans that you have to reform if it coming up. but when we come back, we're going to take a quick break now, ambassador haley on the age question that's plaguing her opponents and how she plans to close the polling gap with less than one week to go until primary day here in her home state of south carolina. stay with us, don't go away.

[cheers and applause] >> who do you think is going to win? >> ni e kki better win. if not here, afterwards on big tuesday. >> is there an issue that's most important to you? >> there are many issues, as you know, but character comes number one. we've got a person who's going to be honest with you, who's going to get things done and is not going to be creating crazy e things just off the cuff that get the country upset. we need some competence in the whit -what even is this? -don't touch my things. gross. janice, when you bundle your home or renters with your auto, progressive provides 24/7 protection for almost everything you own. -but do you really need... -my weighted hoop? it's for my snatched waist. that's my dog chaise lounger. foot treadmill. that's my tuesday chalice. purse that says purse. hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber. i can't live without oxygen. solid gold coffee machine. -lake making kit. -really? -can progressive cover that too? -yes, but -- -hi it's janice. i'll take 5.

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♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] john: welcome back to our south carolina town hall with republican presidential candidate nikki haley. all right, we are on now to talk about the campaign and and some

of your opponent as a well. next up we've got becky. she's from here in columbia, south carolina. she says that she's voting for governor haley. she is a former teacher and a current sales associate. becky, go ahead. >> thank you. governor haley, we're so proud if to have you back in our state for a while. >> thank you. >> i've always thought that running for office is a right and not a privilege. what would you say to the naysayers who have made such negative comment regarding your continuing this presidential race? >> it's interesting because, you know, i look at where we started. there were 14 candidates in the race. we've defeated a dozen of the fell a las. i just have one more fella to catch up. to. [cheers and applause] and through it all there have been naysayers, and that's okay. i'm used to being an underdog. i was an underdog when i ran for office the first time and defeated the longest serving legislator in a primary. i was the underdog when i was

one of five candidates that a ran a for governor. i'm okay being the underdog now. but the issue is if you look at the fact that we started at 2%, in iowa we got 20%, then we went to new hampshire and we got 43% of the vote. but the night that we got 43 of the vote -- 43% of the vote, president trump literally became unhinged and went on a temper tantrum. and all he did was talk about revenge. and then the next day he said anybody who supported me was barred permanently from maga. now, think about that. a president -- a candidate for president should want to bring people in. it's about a addition. it's not pubbing people out of your club -- can pushing people out of your club. and then the day after that he pushed the rnc to name him the presumptive nominee, and he got pushback on that. we don't anoint kings in this country. [applause] we let the people vote. [applause]

but what bothered me about that and what i wish people would have focused on is through all of that, trump never talked about the american people. he never talked about the fact we're $34 trillion in debt. he never talked about the fact that only 31% of eighth graders in our country are proif efficient in reading -- proficient in reading. never talked about an open border that was out of control, the lawlessness in our cities, and he never talked about the wars around the world. all he did was talk about himself. so the naysayers can say what the naysayers are gonna say. but we are working every ounce of this state because i think we have a country to save. and i don't think this should be about any person, i think it should be about the american peep. and we're going -- people. and we're going to continue to make this about the american people until we get this done. [cheers and applause] john: governor, a quick question, if i could, about

where you sit now just eight a days away from folks voting. you've got 43% of the vote, as you said is, in new hampshire. you did better than a lot of people expected, but you also said of that second place finish, i need to show i'm building momentum. certainly south carolina has to be better than what i did in minnesota. the closest -- in new hampshire. the closest that a poll has gotten you to donald trump is you at 38%. most of the polls have you in the 20s. how do you make up that ground between now and next saturday? >> they said we were 30 points down in new hampshire, and we gained 25 points in the last three weeks of that election. this is the time when people are starting to care. what we have told everybody is general elections you're given a choice. in a primary if you make your choice. this is the about getting every single person out to vote in this primary if because this is our opportunity. if you look, if you want to talk about a poll, this is the poll i'll talk to you about: 70% of americans right now say they

don't want biden or trump in this election. the majority of americans disapprove of joe biden, the majority of americans disapprove of donald trump. both of those men put us trillions of dollars in debt that the our kids are never going to forgive us for. and are we really going to put our, all of our problems and issues in the hands of two 80-year-olds running for president? we need someone who can serve eight years fully working, fully disciplined and ready to get the job done. finish we can't go and and take the chance of doing this with two 80-year-olds. think about pilots. pilots have a limit. if they go and you have to be 65, and then you stop. look at the military. they have a limit. how are we we going to continue to do in this? it's why i've pushed hard for congress and everyone else to have to do mental competency tests for anyone over the age of 75. it's not because i'm being disrespectful, it's because these people are making

decisions on the future of our economy. they're making decisions on our national security. we need to know they're at the top of their game. and you look at the world on fire right now and so many american families out of sorts, we've got to get this right. and so that's, that's what i think. that's the poll that we're talking about, those are the people i'm fighting for. and at the end of the day, we're going to keep touching every hand, answering every question and make sure we do everything we can to earn every south carolinian's vote. jon: all right -- [applause] want to go to another, another question from the audience here. john heir began is a retired teacher. he is undecided. john, where are you? >> thank you very much. >> hi, john. >> governor haley, if you were elected president, would you pardon donald trump if he was convicted of a crime in federal court? >> well, thank you for that question. you know, if you're talking about pardoning trump, it's not a matter of innocence or guilt

at that point because that means he would have already been found guilty. i believe in the best interest of bringing the country together, i would pardon donald trump. because i think it's important for the country to move on. we've got to leave the negativity and the baggage behind. i don't want this country divided any further. i don't think it's in the best interests for america to have an 80-year-old president sitting in yale and having everybody upset about it -- in jail. i think this would be the time that we would need to move forward and get this out of the way. [applause] john: -- [inaudible] the president is facing in new york city with the fraud case, the alvin bragg case, what we see happening in fulton county with now the district attorney and the special prosecutor he hired in the spotlight. do you believe what's happening to the president healey in some cases -- legally in some cases is fair in. >> i think it's been chaos. but that's e what we see, chaos just follows him everywhere he goes. and and is some of this has been

very politically motivated. we see that for what it is. some of it has not been fair. some he's going to have to defend himself, and we're going to find out whether, you know, there's something behind it or not. but the problem is this is someone we're talking about could win the republican nomination, and he's going to be in court march and april, may and june. he, by his own words, said he's going to be spending more time in court than he is on the campaign trail. that's a problem. republicans will not win if donald trump is the nominee. it's not going to happen. every poll shows that he can't beat with biden. some are down by 5, some are down by 7. on his best day it's margin of error. i'm in every one of those same general election polls, and i defeat biden by up to 17 points. when you look at that, that's the focus we need to have. what good is saying we want to go fix our country if we don't win? we have to win to get that done.

because there will be a female president of the united states. it will either be me, or it will be kamala harris, and and that's the focus that we have to have. [applause] john: president trump did say if he's in court all day, he'll campaign at a night. i followed him for six years, he probably -- [laughter] >> no. i mean, he says if he's in court all day, he'll campaign at a night. he's not campaigning a lot now. and the problem is you look at the fact that not only that, he's using $50 million of his campaign contributions to pay for his personal court cases. and all of those have barely gotten started. now i'm worried with he's going to start taking the rnc and using that as his piggybank for his legal fees, and we have a house and senate that we've got to make sure we keep the majorities in. that is my concern. this is not personal about donald trump. i voted for him twice. i was proud to serve america in his administration.

this is about the fact that republicans cannot afford to lose. and i know he sees that. he knows the polls. he knows the court cases. he knows how much more money he's going to have to pay just in attorney fees. and we can't be distracted. we all know when america's distracted, the world is less safe, and that is literally playing out right as we speak. john: governor, we've still got plenty to get to. when we come back, more questions from voters on some of the most pressing domestic issues that are facing our nation. stay with us, we'll be back. [cheers and applause] >> well, i wouldn't believe the polls, and i'm not smart enough to make projections, but i think as more and more people hear her, the better and better she's going to do. she just has to hoe the rest of the country how good of a governor she's been and how good of a president she could be, and i think that'll be important here in south ca

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♪ ♪ [applause] jon: welcome back to our south carolina town hall with republican presidential candidate nikki haley. now to more questions from our audience today. let's go to jackson. he is a broadcast journal isism major at the university of south carolina -- journalism major. jackson, you say you have not made up your mind yet about who you're going to vote for, and i assume that your vote will turn on whatever the governor says in response to your question. [laughter] >> well, we'll see. maybe i'll be up there with you someday. >> oh. hi, jackson, how are you? >> good. good to see you, governor. as a college student, i'm having to go to the grocery store on my own now and do more adult things. i'm noticing when i leave the grocery store with two bags, i've spent $100 more or.

how are -- or more. how are woe -- we going to bring those costs back down? >> i worry about your generation. my kids both are in their 20s, and if you look at the challenges that they go through, look at the years that heavy had whether d they've had whether it was covid, but now they're worried about all this debt that has been piled on, and they wonder how they're going to be responsible for it. they worry about how they're going to be able to buy a home. the average home buyer in america now is 49 years old. the american dream is leaving them. they're worried about whether they're going to be able to get a job with. and so these are real issues. they're worried about they have a fear of war. all of these things, i know what you're feeling. and so i'll tell you when it comes to the economy, you first have to look at how you got there to know how you're going to fix it. here, under donald trump he put us $8 trillion in debt in just 4 years. he claims it was covid. less than 25% of that was covid. finish the first thing we have to understand is republicans and

democrats put us into this mess. and we've got to call 'em both out for getting us out of this mess. whether it was the spending, whether it's the borrowing, when it's all of the things that they've done, we are $34 trillion in debt. we're having to borrow money just to make our interest payments. china owns some of that debt. for the first time, we're paying more in interest payments than we are on our dependence budget. you know who pays attention to that? russia, china and iran. so we've not to start pulling out of that. the way we do that is we start with our economy, we claw back the $100 billion of unspent covid dollars that are still sitting out there. ing instead of 87,000 irs agents going after middle america, go after the hundreds of billions of dollars of covid fraud, one out of every $7 was spent fraudulently. if 8% of our budget is interest, quit borrowing. cut up the credit cards. you have to balance a budget every day, i had to balance a budget as governor. why is congress the only group with that refuses to balance a

budget? we'll stop the spending, we'll stop the borrowing, we'll eliminate their pet projects, and i'll veto any spending bill that that doesn't take us back to pre-covid levels. that will save us trillions. we'll take as many federal programs as we can and send them down to the state revel. that will dramatically reduce the size of the federal government and empower people on the ground. think education, think health care, think welfare, think mental health. we cut the strings and send that down, and every state can customize it. then we need to open up the middle class. we'll cut taxes on the middle class, we'll simplify those brackets. we'll make sure that we eliminate the federal gas and diesel tax in this country, or and we'll make small business tax cuts permanent. small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy. we need to start acting like it. and then the main thing we can do to bring down costs is let's expand our energy sector. we need to take our energy sector and turn it into an economic powerhouse.

right now the epa a spends more time focusing on sagebrush lizards than they do about whether we can afford our utility bill with. [laughter] [applause] if we need to speed up permitting, open up the pipelines, export as much liquified natural a gas as we can, do nuclear power. all of those things. when we do that, we will bring with down inflation, we will also pay down our debt, and that's when you'll start to feel a little lighter, and the groceries will feel a bit deeper. [applause] john: governor, we should note that the protected -- projected federal deficit for fiscal year '24 is $.5 trillion which is just sigh of -- 1.5 trillion. a lot of people say the only way you could ever balance the budget would be to reform things like medicare, medicaid and social security, which brings us to our next question. we've got leah up. she works in digital marketing. what's your question? >> hi, leah, how are you?

>> good evening. there's a trump ad running that i believe is false and exaggerated, and i would like you to set the record straight on the age group that would be impacted by our social security plan. what are your plans for your -- for social security? >> thank you for that question, and it's once again trump lying about my record, and i will say this, if you have to lie to win, you don't deserve to win, period. [cheers and applause] on top of doing all these things that we talked about with the economy, we also have to acknowledge some hard truths. social security will go bankrupt in 10 years. medicare will go bankrupt in 8. putting our head in the sand is not going to fix that problem. finish donald trumps has said he's not going to touch it. joe biden said he's not going to touch it. you know what that does when they leave office? that's a 24% cut for everybody in their benefits. that is unacceptable. the accountant in me says you get in front of an issue, so the

first thing we need to do is tell everybody if you are informed in the system -- invested in the system, if you are looking to get something, we're not touching you. america should keep her promises, and we're going to keep that promise to you. but the way we deal with those is we go to those like my kids in their 20s, and we tell them that coming into the system we're going to have to change the rules for them. we'll is are to change the retirement age to reflect life expectancy for them. instead of cost of living increases, we'll do increases based on inflation. we'll cap the benefits on the mega-wealthy, and we'll expand medicare advantage plans which seniors love that create more competition. once we do that not only can we make sure that you have what you're expecting, but we can also make sure our kids have something so that when hair time comes, they've -- their time comes, they've got something there for them. that's the way we'll take it on. you have to address it. you can't ignore it just for a vote are.

you've got to just peek if hard truths to people but let them know we've got a solution as we go forward in that process. [applause] jon: john: so let me push you a little bit, if i could. at what age would social security start? you've said 65 a is way too low in terms of your future plans. >> i didn't say that. john: you said -- >> i said 65 is way too low for those -- john: that's what i said in terms of future plans. >> right. john: in 1935 when social security was enacted, the average male lived to be 58, the average a woman 62. the retirement age was 65. so predominantly, most americans were not expected to ever collect social security. by that metric with the current average life expectancy of 77, you shouldn't start social security until you're 84. so -- [laughter] what would be a good age, a reasonable age in your plan for people to start collecting social security? >> well, it would be irresponsible to just throw an age out there. john you're an accountant. you know this stuff.

i -- john: you're not an act a chew barrel,. >> no, but accountants know of you have to look at all the numbers. you have to look at exactly what you're dealing with, what the debt is, what you're focused on raising in the process and how much that's going to cost. i think we've got to do our homework. we've got to do this right, and you can't throw an age out there. what you can say is for those coming up in their 20s, we do know that 65 when you're looking at life expectancy is not the same as what it was when they started this. and so we're going to have to figure that out. but the goal is to make sure they have something too. it's not to leave them high and dry, it's to make sure we hold on to the people that are in the system now, and we fix it going forward. when we were in -- when i was governor in south carolina, we had a pension reform system that was going bankrupt, like so many different states around the country. and what we did is we expect didn't touch people that were in the system. we went to the new state employees that were coming in and said we're going to change the rules for you. this is the same thing. and you've not to figure out

what those numbers are. but the bottom line is at least we're going to fix it as opposed to act like it's not a problem. i think that's the problem that's gotten us here, and is we also have to get on to congress no more raiding is social security. because they're the ones that keep doing this. they keep spend money that they shouldn't be spending. [applause] john: i was going to say, you've got to -- [inaudible] get congress onboard. they don't want to touch it. governor, more big issues to tackle like abortion and crime coming up next. don't go away. ♪

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♪ ♪ [applause] john: and we're back with our south carolina town hall with republican presidential candidate nikki haley. thank you all for being with us to the. -- today. coming up next, we have andrew from here in columbia with a question. andrew. >> hi, andrew. >> thank you, governor. the overturning of rojas single-handedly unified the masses against the republican party contributing to a republican loss in every election since 2016. the singular topic of abortion has even the most right-leaning moderates willing to reelect the current president for the fear of further restrictions. what can be done now to try and bring these voters back to the republican side to have ballot? >> it's a great question.

you know, the first thing is you have to treat it with the respect it deserves. the issue of life and abortion is personal for every woman and if every man, and we need to treat it that way. i think it was right that it's no longer in the hands of unelected justices and that now it's in the hands of the people. i personally am unapologetically pro-life not because the republican party tells me to be, but because my husband was adopted, and i had trouble having both of my children. but i don't judge anyone if for being pro-choice any more than i want you to judge me for being pro-life. we're watching now these states are making their decisions. some states are going more pro-life. i welcome that. some states have gone more on the choice side. the people decided. but when you're talking about a federal law, you have to tell the american people the truth. in order for us to pass a federal law, you have to have a majority of the house, 60 senate votes and a signature of a president. we haven't had 60 republican senators in over 100 years.

we might have 45 pro-life senators. so no republican president can ban abortion any more than a democrat president can ban these state laws. so what can we do? if let's find consensus. let's say let's ban late term the abortions. let's encourage adoptions and good quality adoptions. let's say doctors and nurses who don't believe in abortion shouldn't have to perform them. let's make contraception accessible. and let's say no state law is going to a say to a woman who got an abortion that she's going to jail or getting the death penalty. [applause] let's come together -- [inaudible] [applause] this issue has been demonized for too long. democrats have put fear in women, and republicans have used judgment. there is no place for fear or judgment with something this important. i had a roommate in college who was raped.

i wouldn't wish on anyone that they go through what she went through wondering if she was pregnant. everybody has a story. let's be respectful of their story, and that's how i'm going to handle it going forward. [applause] john: all right, governor. our next question comes from avery, an 18-year-old who works on the family farm. it's your first time voting as well. what do you want to ask the governor? [applause] >> hi, north carolina key. let me just say, when you were governor, we moved 35,000 people from welfare to work. you didn't just save life lives, you saved futures and generation as well. [applause] and many democrat cities across the country you can pretty much get away with stealing anything you want with out of a store without any repercussions. how can you as a governor insure that small businesses have a right to protect their property? >> it's really important that we watch out for small businesses. i grew up in a small business.

they're the ultimate survivors. they have to be flexible, they have to deal with whatever the situation is. i started doing the books for the family business when i was 13, and i remember when times were tough, we got smart, we got creative, we hunkered down. and when times were good, we didn't celebrate because we knew the bad times were happening again. we need to have the backs of small businesses. when it comes to the lawlessness happening in these cities, we can't just say we have the back withs of law enforcement. look at what's happening. law enforcement, they're risking their lives to arrest people, and then they're watching these prosecutors and these judges let 'em out the very next day. the first thing we need to do is we need our judges to prosecute according to the law. we need our prosecutors to do their job. and we need to end sanctuary cities so we don't have any more illegal activity. when we start to do that, that's how we'll make sure small businesses feel safe again, and then we'll get some regulations out of the way too to help them

out. [applause] john: governor, real quick follow-up to that. as president, how do you do that? those are states' issues. >> one of the things that i will do is presidents typically meet with their governors once a year. i'll meet with our governors once a quarter, republican and and democrat, with the sole purpose of when we send those funds down to the state level, supporting them in what works best for their state. you know, when he talks about welfare to work, we had thousands of people on welfare. i took what was -- they were going to be getting welfare. we matched them up with businesses. i told our businesses if you will take this person and if train them for x number of weeks, i'll pay for that. and at the end of it, you decide if you want to hire them. that's how we moved 35,000 people from welfare to work. it's not that people don't want jobs. sometimes they don't know how to get the training. we did the harder work. these were generational cycles that they had always been on welfare, and we had family celebration withs so the kids

could see that their parents now had a great job. but it also showed the parents that they could be productive again. our focus has to be on lifting up everybody. when you do that, that's when magic happens. [applause] john: i mean, this was an idea that was born in the clinton administration and recently was brought with back up again, got a tremendous amount of opposition. now to noah, vice president at the university of south carolina, a college -- college republicans. go gamecocks. [laughter] [applause] >> go tigers, gotta say it. [laughter] [applause] >> thank you, governor. >> thank you. >> in general, the gop has largely ignored gen-z and first-time voters. what -- why do you think this is, and what would you do to make sure our voices are heard? >> i think it's a mistake. and recently a poll came out that should shock everybody that 58 of gen-zers are not planning on voting in this election. if and the only reason people don't vote is when they think no one's listening, and that's a problem. i, on the other hand, think

y'all are going if to be the generation that saves us. you know exactly what you're doing. they think very differently. they don't care as much about money, but they care about a being something bigger than themselves. they want to be a part of something. they care about the environment. we need to listen to them when they're talking about that. they don't want this government debt that's been pushed down on them. hay don't want to see wars happen. and they want to know that they're going to be able to afford a home and get a job like anyone else. so my goal is to make sure that everything we do is to make you feel empowered, for you to feel heard, for you to feel like that a you're not working for government, but that government's going to be serving you. and the only way we can do that is to include you in the conversation, not push you out of the conversation. i would look at it as 58% of gen-zers are not going to vote, a leader should say what are we doing wrong. and i think all leaders need to be understanding right now that if that's the case, we need to go to them, not wait for them to

go to us. and that goes back to the republican party. the republican party needs to understand that they have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. that's nothing to be proud of. we should want to win the majority of americans. but the only way we're going to do that is if we have a new generational conservative leader that leaves the negativity and the baggage behind and starts focusing on the solutions of the future. [applause] john: governor, let me follow up on that quickly, if i could as well, because we've got limited time, and we've got one more question we want to get to. president biden recently employed tiktok to try to get his message across during the super bowl. now, you can say what you will about the contradiction of a president who doesn't allow tiktok on federal government devices using tiktok -- [laughter] but at least democrats are using something to get to younger voters. and republicans are not yet doing that. do they need to start using tiktok? >> well, president trump said he

would ban tiktok, and then when president xi asked him not to, that fell to the wayside. we should have banned it from the very beginning. it's incredibly dangerous. and even if it is helpful in elections, i think that the tone at the top and the leadership of what you show matters. if i were to go and jump on tiktok or republicans were to jump on tiktok, that's not showing anyone why they shouldn't be on it. what everybody needs to know is china is controlling all of that. and if you want to know how it affects you, just imagine by having that app on your phone, china can now see your finances, they can now see who your contacts are. they can see what you click on, why you click on it and how it affects you. they can impact what you see. and they can impact what you hear. that is the dangerous part of tiktok. and india has a banned it, you had nepal just banned it because it was the causing social disruption. america can't be the last country to ban tiktok.

let's end it now and stop it so it doesn't hurt our children any further. [applause] john: john all right, one last quick question. we only have two minutes next, governor. james, a lawyer, registered independent. go ahead, what's your question. >> yes, ma'am. about four years ago before the general election someone literally came up to me and pointed a gun at me while i was driving in south dakota because of a bumper sticker. yesterday someone literally tried to cut me off the savannah highway, flipped me off and cursed at me because of a yard sign in the back of my truck. so what i'd like to ask you is i understand and appreciate you saying you need to bring people into the republican party and not kick them out, but if you're elected to be president, the poison is not partisan. what would you do to help this country and the toxicity and the nastiness that makes people just want to move? >> well, i hate that that happened to you, and that's exactly why i'm running.

i don't want my kids to live like this. i don't anybody's kids to live like this. this is not normal, to have this much chaos around us. it is not normal to have this much anger around us. it's not normal to have this much division around us. you should be able to have dinner with your family without an argument. you should be able to go to work and say what you want without feeling like you're going to be hurt in your job for it. we need to bring civility back, and you can be tough and strong without being hateful. and we did that in south carolina. when we were brought to our knees because nine amazing souls were murdered in a church and every other city was going up in frames -- flames, what did we do? we didn't go and have, you know, everything burned down. we didn't have riots, we had vigils. we didn't have protests, we had a prayer. and we came together as south carolinians, and we said that a

we're better than this. the difference was the tone at the top. in that situation where our state could have fallen apart, my job wasn't to judge either side. my job wasn't to decide who was good and bad, who was right and who was wrong. my job as a leader was to pull out the best in people and get them to see the way forward. that's what we need in a president. someone who's not going to divide people, but pull out the best in people so they want to be patriotic, they want to love america, and they want to take care of each other again. [cheers and applause] john: we'll have to leave it there. thank you so much for joining us. [cheers and applause] thank you all for joining us. thank you for watching our south carolina town hall. i'm john roberts. enjoy the rest of your day. [cheers and applause ♪ ♪. shannon: i am a shannon bream more pressure on the present to today with putin after the