in past industries like transportation or food or drugs or chemicals where they prioritize consumer safety as a condition of market access, and that they have business models that are designed to protect people from harm. that is currently not the case, because the only incentive they have is to maximize shareholder value. and doing great harm turns out to be really profitable. >> yeah, and you can't do it at the expense of our democracy. we've seen that demonstrated time and again. roger mcnamee, thank you very much for your time. a very important topic. we'll have you back on it. in the meantime, though, thank you very much for joining me this evening. reporting from washington, i'm jim acosta. i'll see you again next weekend. a special edition of "cnn newsroom" with dana bash and kaitlan collins starts right now. have a good night. good evening.

welcome to cnn's special coverage of tonight's town hall with republican presidential candidate nikki haley. i'm dana bash, alongside kite l kaitlan collins. >> you are looking at center stage where less than an hour from now, nikki haley, a former governor of south carolina and the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations will take the stage to make her case for why americans should send her to the white house in 2024. she'll be answering questions from a live audience that is filled with voters who will participate in the republican caucuses, and also from tonight's moderator jake tapper. >> it is still very early in this race, but as of now, haley stands at 6%, trailing her boss donald trump and ron desantis by double-digits. >> in the 2024 republican field is only growing with mike pence and chris christie both expected to jump in the race this week. it has been a very busy few days in iowa, where most of the republican field spent the weekend.

haley during those few days repeated her call for, quote, a new generational leader. the question is, can she convince republican voters that she is that leader. >> joining us now from that auditorium is our own jeff zeleny with a list of what to watch for this evening. so, jeff, we are just under an hour out. what do you believe talking to your sources we should expect from nikki haley? >> well, dana, first and foremost challenge for of course the former governor of south carolina nikki haley is to distinguish herself from the rest of the field. and she of course was the second candidate to join this field right after donald trump earlier in year, with a call for generational change. and since then, she perhaps has fallen out of the headlines nationally a bit. but one thing she has been doing is putting the miles on, traveling across the stitt of i state of iowa, holding more events than any of her rival candidates have. she is kind of doing it the old-fashioned way through small

group settings. and the republican voters we are talking to, her name comes up again and again in conversations, but they want to know more from her. so that of course is her challenge and opportunity here tonight at the town hall. republican voters are taking their seat here is in the auditorium in grand view university in des moines. and the republican voters we have been talking to throughout the weekend, in a busy weekend of campaigning here, they want to know what her stands are on abortion. she has called for a consensus in national abortion policy. of course, trying to balance that is a complicated balancing act in a republican primary. she talks about the economy. her economic challenges and successes in the state of south carolina. she also, of course, has a bit of foreign policy experience after serving as the ambassador to the united nations for some time during the trump administration. her biggest balancing act of all, though, trying to win over the trump voters who are exhausted and want to turn the page from him, and those who still like him, of course. she is trying to thread that needle. she has not really gone after or distinguished herself from the former president at all.

she has been doing so much more so with the florida governor ron desantis, who of course is someone she must compete with to get the chance to go one-on-one with donald trump. but future all the talk of the polls and things, as you know, dana, our conversations with voters here, people have remarkably open minds. these republican activists who are just beginning to size up this field, they are really truly measuring these candidates. so their open minds i think are instruct alternative all of us as we watch this race here. they certainly want to hear specifics from her. and tonight she'll hear and take questions from voters themselves her in des moines. >> it is the iowa way, jeff, as you know, better than anybody to size up the candidates. and they have an expectation to do it the old-fashioned way, as you described at the gij beginn of your report. thanks, jeff. kaitlan? >> we have a very busy week as the voters in iowa are going to have a lot more candidates to be evaluating. the gop nomination is taking shape. david chalian is here to break

down what lies ahead. david, one of the things as the voters are making their decisions on who it is they're going to support, hearing from these candidates, we now know former president mike pence, chris christie, the former governor of new jersey and doug burgum of north dakota are all planning to announce their campaigns this week. as this field is starting to take shape, as it's growing, how do you believe that them entering the race changes things? >> kaitlan, it is going to be a very busy week. we do expect those three new entrants to the race that you mentioned, chris christie, mike pence, and doug burgum, the governor of north dakota, the least known of the three of these guys nationally. we've also been told the new hampshire governor chris sununu is going to make his decision about whether or not he is going to get in this race and announce that publicly this week. a lot to watch for in this race. to your point, what impact with these new entrants have? well, they're very present in the race with create impact.

what we're looking at here is starting to be a crowded field. and how that may benefit the front-runner donald trump. because if you are a person in this race not named trump, you're starting to slice up the lane here, the non-trump lane more thinly with each new entrant into the race. so the goal here if you are a candidate not named trump, is to try to figure out how toe carve out your own space here that is substantial enough in size and support that the overall size of the field doesn't thwart anybody from trying to take on the front-runner directly. >> he is the front-runner. we've seen his polling. he's got an incredibly substantial lead right now. but the calendar is getting busier. we're seeing all the candidates enter the race, and they are now having to meet these polling requirement to get on the debate stage in august the first republican primary debate. what does that have to look like for these candidates between now and august? >> as you noted in the poll, trump is in a tier by himself. desantis seems to occupy the second tier.

though nikki haley and mike pence who we're going to hear from tonight and the town hall with mike pence on wednesday, they are sort of in the next tier that are well-known among republicans, but still have not garnered this early support. i just want to stress how early this is, paying attention to polls can be a did birth distracting. what do they need to do between now and as the nomination race continues to grow? they have to do a couple of things. they have to get out to the early states. they need iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, nevada. this bass fry, that's a republican event. they have to hit key constituencies. the faith and freedom coalition conference, you're going see a slew of these 2024 contenders trying to woo social conservative, all in advance of that critical first debate on august 23rd in milwaukee, wisconsin, where republicans will be holding their nominating convention a year later. the opportunity that debates provide for some of the lesser known candidates to get known

among republican primary voter, it's just essential for their candidacies, as is money, kaitlan. >> yeah, that's the other number that matter, not just polling but fundraising as well. david chalian, thank you. >> yep. >> now i want to turn to cnn's abbey phillip and audie cornish, host of "the assignment with audie cornish." hi. nice to see you on a sunday abby, what you expecting to see tonight? >> balancing act is the best phrase to describe what nikki haley is trying to do tonight. she is someone who served in the donald trump administration and really does want to argue that she belongs in the other lane, the non-trump lane. all of these candidates who are not trump are trying to vie for at least that second place, that second place position in this

race. and they have to make a case that they're strong enough on the issues, that there is enough of a difference between them and trump's position, that it matters that they're even in the race. but not so much of a difference that they alienate those voters. and that's really difficult for nikki haley to do. but she has some advantages. and i think principle among them is just who she is. she is a woman, a person of color, a former governor. and i think all of those things really give her a little bit of a different spin on some of these issues. it might allow her to have a little bit more nuance than perhaps some of the other candidates do. but we'll see how she -- how much of that she is willing to showcase tonight, given how early we are in the process. >> it's going to be a lot of pressure, right? if you're not going to outflank trump on the right, those people who are going after -- not the never trimpers, but maybe not today trumpers, the trump fatigue type people, that lane is going to get really crowded in the next couple of days. and then there will be pressure

down the road to say hey, you can't all be in here. i think this town hall and others like it are a reintroduction to each one of the candidates to the general population. i've been listening to a lot of her doing interviews with right-wing podcast and her pitches. i'm a two-term governor, but i actually know something about foreign policy. her pitches, race and identity exist in my biography, but they do not dictate who i am. you don't have to worry about me being woke or demanding an apology from you in some way as a white voter. so i think that that combined with i asked trump for permission to run more or less is her saying look, it's okay. i'm one of you, but i can talk to them. that's what i hear her saying in these interviews, that she can talk to liberals and progressives an people in the middle lanes. >> it is true that if you are somebody looking for a competent

based on your resume person, somebody who has a lot of experience and a variety of experience, why wouldn't a voter look at someone like nikki haley? never mind -- and that is not a reason to look at her, but reality is never mind that she is a person of color, she is the only woman running for the republican nomination. >> look, remember when desantis spoke out about ukraine and had to go back and forth. what is he saying? what is his stance here? she is going to come out and i'm not going to be that person. i can be on the world stage and i know what i'm talk when i open my mouth. >> you think your answer to question why not look at someone who has a long resume and a good resume is that there is an element of this republican primary electorate that wants a little bit of the performative aspect of it. i do think that's going to be a big element tonight. she talks a lot about her toughness, about being willing to kind of take on bullies and things like that. and the reason she does that is because i think republican voters want to know that she can

do that, both in the context of the primary, but also against their perceived foes, the mainstream media, the establishment, the woke -- if you're ron desantis, the woke institutions. how does she perform that tonight i think will be a big part of what we see on that stage. >> on that note, i spoke earlier today on state of the union with ken buck, who is a republican, of course, a member of the house, and a member of the freedom caucus. and i want you to listen to what he said about the multiple investigations into the front-runner in the race and also about his advice for ron desantis. he has not endorsed yet. take a listen. >> i think the multiple investigations and civil lawsuits that have been brought almost give this presidential candidate an former president credibility. he keeps saying that the world is against him because he's trying to make these changes. >> i know what you're saying it

gives him creditability with some in the electorate. but for you, ken buck, does he give credibility to you? >> well, i have seen him for four years. i was in the house when he was president. i don't look at the actions that he has taken that are being investigated as much as his role as a former president and what his policies were. my advice is not to try to out-trump donald trump. there is nobody that is really that operates in the same area as donald trump. and i think ron desantis has a strong record of accomplishment in florida when he was dealing with covid and then some other areas. and i think those are the things that he should be running on. >> so kaitlan, really critical of the former president. clearly not saying point-blank that he believes the former president actually breck any laws, but as a former

prosecutor, buck was saying that he believes that the things that are alleged are not good. and also, simply, i thought it was very interesting that he's not endorsed, as i said. he served with ron desantis in the house. he sat next to him in the house judiciary committee, and his advice was don't try to out-trump trump. relevant not just to desantis, but perhaps to what we might see and hear tonight from nikki haley. >> we saw that, of course, the last time trump was running against other republicans when they tried to maybe mimic his style with nicknames and what not. didn't work out for those candidates at the time. but as we've seen this field continue to grow, it will be interesting to see how some of them navigate this, including nikki haley herself, given she used to work for the former president, obviously, in his administration. but dana, i was watching this morning as i always do on "state of the union" when he was saying about the investigation facing donald trump and the idea that

he believes it gives him credibility with voters and what that means o, i've heard such a different tone over the weekend as i've been speaking to republicans and trump allies following that reporting last week about the documents investigation into him, and learning about this audio. and the way you saw these allies talk about the state of this investigation, they didn't really think it was going amount to much before that, and now how they're viewing it, now that they know there is audio of the former president making clear he didn't think he had that leeway, i do wonder if that changes. it certainly -- what he said publicly did not reflect what we had heard from a lot of people behind the scenes who were actually very concern whereby that investigation stands now. >> no question. and this is of course your reporting with our colleagues about the fact that the doj has an audio recording of the president talking about a classified document that he admitted according to your reporting was classified in that sort of suggests that his argument that he can declassify

anything isn't really there. and jamie raskin was on state of the union saying that could prove intent. but i think what ken buck was trying to say is what we heard all these republicans saying after the new york indictment, which is it definitely galvanized the base. but you're saying what you're hearing from sources is this might be a game-changer, the idea that he might be an n actual real trouble when it comes to the classified document investigation by doj, by the special counsel. >> yeah. it certainly seems like they're taking the documents investigation, seeing it in a much different lens than the one here in new york. of course, we have much more to come tonight as we wait for this town hall with nikki haley to begin. there is one presidential hopeful who was not in iowa over the weekend. he was there earlier this week. but it did sound like a lot of former president trump's rivals did not forget their number one target. >> i believe we have to resist the politics of personality. dispense with the culture of losing that has beset the republican party in recent

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all the gop hopefuls, well, all but one were in iowa over the weekend for a veteran's fundraiser. former president trump was not there, but that did not stop his republican rivals from taking some pretty thinly veiled shots at him. >> leadership is not about entertainment. leadership is not about virtue signaling or building a brand. leadership is ultimately about results. there is no substitute for victory, and we need to dispense with the culture of losing that has beset the republican party in recent years. >> we have to resist the politics of personality and the siren song of populism unmoored to timeless conservative principles. >> reporter: don't complain about what you get in the general if you play in this caucus. because it matters. i'm going keep coming. i'm not doing shortcuts. i'm not going to do a rally and leave you. >> here with me now scott jennings who worked for

president george w. bush, former white house communications director alyssa farah griffin, rob godfrey, who served in governor haley's administration as deputy chief of staff and chief spokesman, republican strategic alice stewart, david axelrod, and former south carolina state representative bakari sellers. we've got the whole group here. obviously this roast and ride in iowa kicks off the entire campaigning for all of these republicans. they're all there. trump was the only one who was not there. we did see former vice president pence. he was the only one who actually got on a motorcycle and had a vest with his name on it. but alyssa, i wonder what you thought of it on stage, no mention of trump, even though he was the candidate who didn't feel like he needed to come this weekend. >> well, listen, i think candidates are showing up, and they're making their case. and dana made a very important point which the iowa caucuses are still eight months away. we're still so far out in the season and showing up is so important. i remind folks iowa has not gone on to elect a republican since

2000 with george w. bush. but it's still incredibly important to sell who you. the nikki haley folks tonight, they're telling us that what they want to see is her reintroducing herself to voters who may not be that familiar to her. they know she was in the trump administration. she was governor. who is she and how does she distinguish herself from the others in the field. there is going to be donald trump. he is not going away in tis rand then there is going to be the alternative. that's why you're seeing her take shots at ron desantis or other candidates in the field because she is waiting to be that candidate to trump. if she can do it is an open question. >> april 12, 2021, nikki haley said she would not run for president if donald trump ran. and this weekend in iowa she said i want to leave the baggage and the negativity behind. when you say she wants to reintroduce people to who she, i'd like to know who she is too. i think this has been one of the principle things about her over this period of time. her back and forth with trump. does she like him? does she not? she wasn't going run. now she running. this has plagued her over the

last few years. so maybe tonight is a good chance to reset that. but i do think it's one of the things that's holding her back. >> and town halls are a perfect venue for her to do just that. she has experienced doing them as governor. she aughtcally connects with people. and people are just starting to engage. people are just starting to focus. and i think that's when we'll start to see these polls start to move. while the former president wasn't at the roast and ride last night, he certainly was a looming presence. and the fact of the matter is that if these candidates who are trying to make generational change arguments, whether it's nikki haley or it's tim scott or it's ron desantis, if they're going to do that, this is the time to start doing it. because we have a small window for people to begin to focus on that. and the republican party has a choice to make when we're looking at those three candidates. is this going to continue to be the party of archie bunker in a red tie, or is this going to be

the party of the nikki haleys of the world, the tim scots of the world and ron desantiss of the world. >> desantis is obviously there this weekend. i think most notably, his wife casey desantis was there wearing a leather jacket that said florida gator and emblazoned, where woke goes to die. it was 86 degrees. i'll note that a lot of treport on the ground took note of. he was asked to defend the term woke, something he has been using repeatedly on the campaign trail, something that trump criticized him for. >> and i don't like the term woke, because i hear woke, woke, woke. it's a term that half the people can't even define it. they don't know what it is. >> look, we know what woke is. it's a form of cultural marxism. it's about putting merit and achievement behind identity politics, and it's basically a war on the truth and it has infected institutions. it's corrupted a loft institutions. so you have to be willing to fight the woke.

we've done it in florida, and we proudly consider ourselves state where woke goes to die. >> is that what woke -- >> absolutely not. i don't know really what ron desantis thinks he was saying in that word salad. honestly, it's the type of anti-intellectualism and ignorance that has kind of dominated our political discussions these days. when you hear him say woke every other word within a 10-second period or 20-second period, it's meant to gin up this type of furor and these culture wars which ron desantis wants to wage in. it's a page out of donald trump's playbook, which i say aye assume he will not do as well as donald trump. the fact is when you look at this past weekend in iowa, what's pretty clear is there is really no republican that has the talent level to compete with donald trump. there are people who want to be donald trump-like. there are people who really don't have any idea what their policy is. tonight i want to hear nikki haley say something more than

talking about transgenderism and transgenders in sports. >> which she talks about quite a bit. >> that's her policy. she hasn't asserted another policy other than that. and you ask what ron desantis' policy is about a foreign policy. well, i want to take the woke out of the military? what's your economic policy? i want to take the woke out of our large corporations and businesses. when you think about that, donald trump's policies are completely backwards, but ironically enough, he is the only one articulating any policy whatsoever. >> go ahead, i'm sorry. >> i was just saying. >> you look openly frustrated. >> that tells you the problem and the level of debate that we're having. now go, david. >> look, first of all, when i heard desantis speak, i'm thinking i wonder how many people in on the highways and byways of iowa are talking about cultural marxism. >> zero. >> this is his problem. he is a very clinical guy who

actually does want to talk about policy. that's all he talks about, and mario cuomo said years ago, said years ago you can't campaign in poetry and prose. i think this is going to be a problem for him. in terms of the feel generally, there is no baseball manager long gone named eddie steinke, he may have been from alabama. he said no-risk baseball is second division baseball. that's true in presidential politics too. donald trump is in a very strong position in this race. it's not like these other races where iowa didn't matter. i think someone has to win in iowa, and that person who wins may become his principle opponent, but if he wins iowa, i think he is in a really good position to run the table. and so all of these candidates who are sort of kind of

tiptoeing around because they're worried about offending his supporters, you don't have anything to lose folks. if the only thing -- the big risk is not to take risks. and nikki haley's great problem, as scott mentioned is that she's a very talented politician. her profile is a great profile for a general election, but she is a stradler. she has always been someone trying to find the perfect line to walk on these difficult issues. we see it on abortion now. we saw it on trump. and i think if that's her posture, she is not going to be around very long. >> to your point, donald trump is is in a very strong position right now. he is far ahead in the polls nationally, as well as in iowa. and he is not going to go to the events where he has to share the stage and spotlight with other candidates because in his mind and his campaign's mind, they're above this. heck, he might not even participate in the debates. >> he shouldn't. >> exactly. given the lead that he has. >> should not, no. >> but here's the thing.

people in iowa right now are looking at this as a level playing field. they're open to alternatives. they're open to listening to donald trump. these candidates, it would be helpful if donald trump did as well, go to these roast and rides. having been there, you have to go to the pizza ranch. you have to go to the machine shed. you to go to the iowa state fair. you have talk to these people. keep in mind nikki haley might not be getting all of this national attention like trump and desantis is, but what she's doing, and what these other candidates are doing and the smart thing, they're burning the shoe leather. they're going out talking to people, meeting and greeting, getting local media coverage, which is extremely important. getting the cover of des moines register, getting that local coverage. and winning people over one by one. and she's working it hard. desantis is going to be doing that certainly as well. tim scott. but it's too early to count any people out right now they're out there working. and the evangelicals i talk to in iowa say they're ready for someone thats what the policies

of trumpx but is not the toxic nature of him. and the key is you can't out-trump trump. you can't be more insulting than he is. you have to go after him head-on on policy. >> as you note, he was there two days last week. all of you stand by. dana, we're watching to see what all of this shapes up to look like for this race and to hear more from nikki haley on her views on these key issue. >> we sure are. on the break, you have to ask alice about covering her and governor huckabee back this the mid 2000s in iowa. she knows what she is talking about. she really did all that thanks. and as we wait for our cnn town hall, more on tonight's breaking news, u.s. fighter jets scrambled in response to an aircraft that ultimately crashed in southwest virginia. the military aircraft caused a sonic boom heard across the washington region, alarming many.

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we have breaking news that we're following tonight after f-16 fighter jets were scrambled to respond to a plane that ultimately crashed in southwest virginia. that's according to officials. and right now it is still not clear if the plane had violated restricted airspace near washington, d.c., or if there was an emergency on board. cnn's pete muntean is here tracking all of this. this was the boom i was get a lot of texts from friends in washington earlier, trying to figure out what was going on, asking me if i knew what was going on. what have you learned? >> the sonic boom heard far and wide from annapolis to leesburg. we have heard from folks all over the eastern seaboard who heard this, which was apparently from the f-16s that were sent to scramble the cessna citation private jet. according to a source familiar with this incident and norad, they both tell us that this plane was unresponsive, four on

board. the pilot not responsive as this flight was going from elizabethton -- sorry, in tennessee to macarthur airport on long island. but this plane then turned and overshot its original destination by about 300 miles. that is when norad scrambled f-16s in pursuit of this plane. and norad tells us that these airplanes, that's fighter jets in pursuit were cleared to go supersonic briefly, through the sound barrier which ultimately leads to a sonic boom, and that is what doorbell cameras far and wide captured. listen. see, the dog scared there on the deck of the homes there in northern virginia. this apparently was because of the flight crew being completely unresponsive. and that track, after the plane

turned away from long island, went right over d.c., right over the district of columbia. and that is an issue because there is layer of layer of restricted airspace there. planes that are unresponsive typically are not allowed through. they must be talking to air traffic control and squawking a discreet transponder code. if they do not have those things, that raises alarm bells at the command center in warrenton, virginia. that's why the jets were sent in pursuit. the fighter jets came up to the plane, it seats between seven and 11 people and fired off flares to try to get the attention of the crew. but the pilot was unconscious and the plane crashed into a rural area not too far from stanton, virginia near charlottesville. they're still searching for the wreckage right now at this hour. >> pete muntean, as you learn more, please keep us updated.

dana? we're about 20 minutes away from cnn's town hall with republican presidential candidate nikki haley, hosted by jake tapper. haley declared her candidacy in february. her first endorsement came from a fellow south carolinian, congressman ralph norman. he tweeted a the time that the party tweeted a new chapter, and, quote, there is no better person to help write that chapter than former governor and my good friend nikki haley. congressman norman joins me now as a surrogate for the haley cam campaign. thank you for joining me. first question, why did you choose nikki haley? what made you choose her? >> thanks for having me, dana. first of all, nikki haley is a long-time friend shchlt s.e. a very successful governor, very successful adviser to the united nations appointed by president trump. she is tough. she is just what this country needs. she will be able to serve eight years with this disastrous

administration and what the biden administration has done to this country, it's going to take eight years. it's going to take somebody with energy. and i will tell you what, you will see tonight, nikki haley is definitely not past her prime. she will answer questions, any question asked of her, you will see the real nikki haley. and i'm excited about her candidacy. >> when you endorsed the ambassador, you said that the republican party has entered a, quote, season of change and is looking for new leadership. but as you know, the former president donald trump is the very clear front-runner at this time. do you think that she has to make a very sharp contrast between her and what she would do as president and her former boss? >> absolutely not. nikki haley will be nikki haley. she'll be real. she'll be authentic. look, the policies of president trump were phenomenal. look at what we're facing now. and haley and all the others

will put into effect the sound policies that donald trump did. and so-so no, i don't think she'll differentiate herself. i think she'll lay out a division of priorities that the country will like, and it will be just what america needs now. it's going to take a lot to turn this ship around, and i think she is the person to do it. i saw her do it in south carolina, and i think she'll do it for south carolina. >> there is another south carolinian in the race, the junior senator representing south carolina in the u.s. senate, tim scott. what made you decide to go with nikki haley when you have another person who you serve with in the congress running for president? >> well, i mean, i served with tim scott a short time when he came in the house. symptom a great friend of mine, a great guy. i just think nikki haley has what it takes. her personal skills, her retail politics. but i think what she is underestimated on is her strength. she will be an iron fist with a velvet glove, like margaret

thatchler be. i would send her out negotiating with any country, anywhere at any time. and i think i think that's what's needed and her judgment is second to none. and having these other candidates, that's a plus for nikki. you will see her on stage. you'll see her perform, and she'll perform very well. and it's real early. people complain about the poll numbers. i don't care about the poll numbers. i think back in '15, donald trump had 3%. but, you know, watch her perform. watch her show the american people what she can do for them. and i think it they will like what they see. i know it because i worked with her. she and i came in the legislature in south carolina the same year. and i just saw what she did. >> congressman norman, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> my pleasure. >> kaitlan? we have more news that we are tracking tonight ahead of the town hall. the war in ukraine, also now a war in russia. fighting intensifying in a

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face questions about russia's invasion of ukraine, especially given her background at the united nations and how she has spoken out on it previously. right now the effort to take the war to russian territory appears to be gaining momentum. the governor of the belgorod region on the ukrainian border is now reporting at least seven people have been killed there by shelling since friday. it comes after two groups of these anti-putin russian fighters began these cross-border incursions two weeks ago. the groups are not officially i should note part of the ukrainian armed forces, but they do fall under the command of ukraine's security forces. cnn's fred pleitgen is live in kyiv, ukraine. obviously we're going to be watching to see what nikki haley says about this. this is a very important issue in the republican field. but what are you seeing on the ground there? >> well, first of all, you're absolutely right is that the war seems to be coming to the russian territories. but right now in general, kaitlan, what we're seeing on the ground is the russians really seem to be on the back foot, and the ukrainians seem to be advancing there isn't any

part of the long front line right now where the russians would be moving forward at this point in time. at the same time you do have the fact for the last couple days, there has been that cross-border shelling from the ukrainian territory the into russian territory. it's the region near the town of belgorod, the belgorod region, where a lot of that shelling has been taking place, and also, there have been some cross-border incursions be by those anti-putin russian fighters who in ukraine fight on the side of the ukrainians. but the ukrainians say when they go into russian territory, they're doing that on their own. of course, the russians don't buy that. they say this is the ukrainians who are behind it. but in any case, the russian are having serious trouble coming to terms with that and that in itself is hugely significant, because the area around belgorod, and i was there when the russians first invaded ukraine a little while ago, it's a highly militarized area. it seems like an invincible area back then. right now the russians having serious trouble trying to oust the russian fighters who have crossed the border and gone into

their territory. all this comes, kaitlan, as the president of this country, volodymyr zelenskyy, he says that the ukrainians are now ready for a large scale counteroffensive. highway hasn't said when it's going to start. he said he thinks it's going to take a long time. but he thinks it's going to be very successful. that is certainly what people on the ground are going to be looking out for. the ukrainian military has already said they're not going to make an announcement when it happens. they also say the russians are going to feel it. >> yeah, and it was kind of like the invasion where you knew it was under way once it was actually under way. fred, thank you for that. dana, obviously a big question for nikki haley tonight, for all the republican candidates here. >> and the republican presidential field is split when it comes about what to do about ukraine. listen to this. >> i do not think it is a top foreign policy priority for us. i don't think it is preferable for russia to be able to invade a sovereign country that is its neighbor, but i think the job of the u.s. president is to look after american interests. >> i think that we should be in

ukraine. i believe that the truth is simple. that degrading the russian military is in america's be interests. >> if i'm president, he will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. >> in terms of what's going on over in eastern europe, i'd like to see a settlement of this. i do not want to see a wider war. i think it's completely unknowable what it will look like in january of 2025, but i would not want to see the united states with our troops get enmeshed in a war in russia or in ukraine. >> and then there is nikki haley. we will of course hear from her moments from now at our town hall. at an even last month, for it, and that used to be us, we used to be like that so they deserve to have their country back and we deserve to always fight for freedom. >> we will see what she says tonight. she will make her case the

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we are just minutes away from cnn's town hall where republican presidential candidate, nikki haley, tabled back here me now, rob, you used to work with her and spend a lot of time with her, and what are you looking for from her tonight? >> i expect all the candidates to say woke a number of times -- >> there's a minimum. >> yeah, a minimum. she was a record-setting job creator, and a record-setting recruiter of investment into the state. she was very successful. she was successful at the u.n. and stood up to our foes and stood with our allies. i hope to hear her talk about the generational vote. >> the argument she has been

making saying they need a new generational leader. desantis is one of her biggest khalen jurors now, and he's younger than she is. >> in order to get to trump you have to get passed desantis. i also want to hear one more thing, and we were just talking about russia, and i want to hear nikki haley asale. she has been strong on russia her entire career. >> why go after desantis on that? he walked it back, but he said we dependant have a -- >> he was not on tv calling for major concessions to the russians. >> even in that clip there, he said i want a settlement. that's like code for making concessions to russia at this point. i think that, look, i think this is one area where she can

differentiate herself and stand up on ukraine. the fact that her husband just got deployed and is in the military -- not to ukraine but to africa, gives her another element in a state where there are a lot of veterans. that's a place where i would work. >> one of the things about nikki haley, anybody that knows her or worked with her, and we know she's extremely tal kwreptd. i always said nikki haley is one of the most talented politicians in the country, and the problem is people don't know what she stands for. tonight i think people have the opportunity to -- she gets one shot. i know it's early, but nikki haley gets one shot, while the nuggets and everybody else are playing, and she gets one opportunity to show the world what she stapdz for and i think

people have those questions. >> the challenge is differentiating herself from donald trump and desantis but doing herself until a way that does not alienating trump's space, and she is committed to go on policy and not personality, because you have to have that base support moving forward. and another thing on the generational change, and calling for competency calls for candidates, and an optimistic leader is what i think many republicans want to see. >> i would argue it's to go after the person pulling out in double digits against everybody else,ing and a lot of voters don't agree with all the trump's policies, so start finessing the

areas where you do have disagreement and show you are a next generation candidate and also has policy differences. >> and also on abortion, i want to head over to dana before we get to the town hall. >> thanks, caitlyn. we are just under 90 seconds left until we get to the town hall, and as we go into this event, what is the most critical thing that you think has to happen for nikki haley? >> i think we just heard on the other panel this idea that people don't quite understand where she stands and who she is as a candidate and who she is differentiated from trump, and that's going to be significant, what she says about abortion and russia and ukraine, and that sort of thing is what we are going to be list young for. >> and the key is from the top of the hour from jeff, iowa voters traditionally, historically, really do keep a very open mind. >> they like to be the king

maker in the field, although they have not been for 20 plus years. ralph norman told you nikki haley would implement trump's policies immediately, and meanwhile our great colleagues in new york are discussing how she really needs to differentiate with him on policy versus on personality. my question is what is nikki haley going to do? is she going to say i am going to be an implementer of all the things you loved about trump? that is going to be a critical question about what she does there. there's clearly differences there between what roalph norma was saying. >> the town hall with nikki haley starts right now. ♪ ♪