you see this with the rnc. you see this with with mitch mcconnell and mike johnson. >> that's a great point. >> they're all trump's oompaloompahs. >> wow. >> is that dr. seuss. >> willey wonka. >> do you have a willey wonka feeling about this, david? >> i don't have a willey wonka feeling. look, i mean, the point kind of remains. we've busted all the norms. yes, the establishment is with trump because they know what happens to him when they cross him. if he sends someone after you in a primary, more often than not he will get you. so that's why we're here. you know, they kind of see the writing on the wall where this nomination is headed right now unless we have some sort of dramatic change, which we could have. we can't predict what's going to happen next week or the week after that, but this is -- this is the party kind of saying, you know, we don't want a problem with trump in the future. if he's going to be the nominee, i'm not going to earn myself a primary in the next election. i'm not going to get a bad

quote, who cares what the rnc says. on to suggest the rnc chair woman ronna mcdaniel organize a debate in south carolina. let's go to cnn senior data reporter harry enten at that magical wall. harry, we know if the rnc was poised to declare trump the presumptive nominee. this would really be unprecedented, of course, at this point in the race. right? >> unheard of. there is no other word around. it a competitive gop primary -- ending with a presumptive gop nominee. march 4th, back in 2008, it's the earliest in the last decade and a half, it's also the earliest on record in the modern primary era. and of course, keep in mind, laura, at that particular point, would already run through super tuesday, already run through most of the delegates. other dates more recently, 2012, april 25th. 2016, when of course trump clinched that particular cycle, may 3rd. laura, the idea would have a president nominee in january is frankly off the maps and not anything awkward have ever heard of, it is before this year. >> by the way, only a

so does the rnc.ld allow the rnc to serve as an anti-nikki haley propaganda arm and digital and data arm would be a huge deal. and that was the miscalculation that they could do this in secret. >> just thinking about what that would entail. the secrecy of it. the fact it would disenfranchise voters. new hampshire and iowa are just two of the 50. the idea that would be the deciding factor. as you saw from harry how early this would be in the process, what about the idea for voters who see this and say what about us? >> reporter: i find it really rich. the crowd that loved to scream election interference at anything over the past four years is now trying to interfere in an election. when there is one of their own who actually stands on pretty good footing despite the iowa and new hampshire results and i and have heard the most reductive arguments come from ronna mcdaniel's mouth. that is shameful for her. it is not the place a party chair needs to be in and there need to be a reckoning. there need to be

let's talk about the rnc for a second. because this was a real -- like there was real whiplash yesterday with david bossie saying we'll declare trump the nominee. and there was backlash that had him turning around, which he often doesn't do saying no, no, we won't do this. what is your better interpretat what happened and was it a mistake for the rnc? >> i think we were talking about this yesterday in the sense that there is a little bit of irony here in the fact that you where sitting here campaigning on election interference and forget 2020, but talking about the trials and people trying to get trump out of the race by using the court system to do it. and yet he has folks that are out there trying to circumvent the process at the rnc and have him declared the presumptive nominee. with all practicality, it means nothing that the rnc says he is the presumptive nominee because even in the resolution it said he still has to get the delegates necessary. so the primaries and caucuses left to be contested will still go on. so r

is the new rnc chair failing the standard?standard, doing what donald trump and others want her to do. and, you know, i think i made very clear what the standard had been. and at least that's what it was for me. now, that doesn't mean that i don't have a party discipline conversation with candidates. they out there showing their behind and i say, look, i can't support you showing your behind. so, you go do that, but don't expect me to write a check, right? so, there are things that the party can do. but the actual telling a candidate, okay, yeah, you just had a good primary night, you need to step down now, that's not what the process and that's not what the party in the past has wanted. if they really wanted her out, then they -- there is a process for that, ari, it is called a rule 11 letter. when the party basically gets all the central committees to agree, donald trump will be the nominee in the primary. but that's not what is on the table here. and i think it is important to just make it very clear this part of the proces

the haley campaign telling fox "who cares what the rnc ssays.f washington insiders." that is reaction to the breaking news from the rnc that we talked about a short time ago. now coming from the haley campaign as this heats up. we're about to hear from two women that are fighting for fairness in sports as ohio becomes the latest state to ban transgender athletes from girls teams in high school and college. swimmer riley gains is author of the new children's book, happy no snake's day. bethany hamilton is a very well known surfer who lost her arm in a tiger shark attack when she was 13 years old. she is a courageous champion and she's the author of "surfing past fear." she gave up her year ago to protest her policy that allowed some trans athletes to compete against women based on testerone levels. so welcome to both of you. great to have you with us. thanks so much for being here. you know, bethany, we haven't heard you speak out as much on this issue. you made a major change based on what is going on in your sport. tell us how -- where you are

because what happens when the rnc ends up backing a candidate, they get access to all of the rnc's filesdatabase, for example. their ground operations. the list goes on. and so there's a lot of blow back about this. >> so what has happened now? >> essentially what happened is that donald trump, who, we are told, actually was for this resolution, when was posed to him. and just to remind you, david facie is close to, him and it's doubtful he would put this four without going through someone in the campaign. they we told the agreed, but they received a lot of backlash. allies telling me that they were warning the campaign that this could backfire. it could cause problems. this could essentially give nikki haley a leg up because it was making it look like trump was trying to stack the deck against her. so donald trump put out a statement saying, essentially, this. let me find it because they put it over here. he posts on truth social. remember, after agreeing, while i greatly appreciate the republican national committee rnc wanting to make neither presumptive nominee, and while they have fa

the rnc said haley should drop out, trump has to be the winner. this morning nikki haley did something unusual, something trump hasn't done, which is face questions from a different and more adversarial set of interviewers. she went, just like biden has, to the breakfast club and took the questions. >> he goes and pushes the republican party to say that he's the nominee to get me out. we don't do coronations in this country. two states have voted. you need 1215 delegates. he has 32, i have 17. this is far from over. we're not giving up. >> the delegate breakdown backs that up. 48 states to vote, 1200 plus delegates to go. while trump has long pretended to be the outsider like so many other of his pr ploys, you have to look at the facts not the spin because we have evidence from two states, iowa and new hampshire. trump did get just over 52%. compare that to trump's endorsements though. congressional republicans who have made a decision, 92% are now supporting trump. so on the left you have actual republican primary voters who participated in the t

the rnc pushed back pretty hard saying this is just a draft, it's probably not going to go through. however, it would have given trump a lot of opportunities because what happens when the rnc ends up backing a candidate, is they get access to all of the files. their database, for example, their ground operations. the list goes on. and so there was a lot of blowback about this. >> so what's happened now? >> so essentially, what happened is that donald trump, who we are told actually was for this resolution when it was proposed to him. david is very close to donald trump. it is very unlikely that bossy would put this forward without going through someone in the trump campaign. so we were told they gave it a green light then they received a lot of backlash. essentially allies telling me they were warning the campaign this could backfire. that this could cause problems. that this could essentially give nikki haley a leg up because it was making it look like trump was trying to stack the deck dw against her. so donald trump puts out a statement saying essentially this. he posted this on

the rnc rules say you need 50% plus e to clinch it.ans trying to deny delicate the opportunity to be heard and cast a vote. in essence, denying the democratic process. something even trump seemed to think was too much. writing on his social media side, the rnc should not go for with a resolution. a source tells nbc news it was withdrawn shortly after trump made his post. carlos curbelo and dean obeidallah are back with me. dean, all start -- congressman, i'll start with you. your reaction to this debacle from your former party. >> it's embarrassing. look, it's not surprising, this is what the maga movement is all. about right? changing the rules, ignoring the results. making exceptions if the person you agree with one or if you like them. and you hit a trump ally saying, hey, we have this whole process, we have this election calendar. people and states are preparing to vote, thinking about who they are going to vote for. let's just forget about it, let's put the crown on donald trump's head. and i guess this was so bad that even trump

they're controlled by the rnc. hallie has 17 delegates, trump 32.hat mathematical path is left? under the current republican rules, which they set for their voters, most of the states they only allow republican members to vote, not other citizens, which is fine. that's how the primaries work in most states. there's 1,166 delegates left. there's no world of math, even spin bananas math, where you can say the path to domination is closed. it is my job now to say, i'm sorry, but the rnc draft statement supported by the trump fans was a lie. if you want to like at it politically, it was a lie perpetrated against 48 states and republican voters around america. if you would like a republican civil war, you have one. if you're watching "the beat. "welcome. with their fat salaries, they didn't want to tell you. they wanted to cut you out of this process. it doesn't matter who they wanted after that. if your party is cutting you out of voting, you might want to think about whether these people are supporting your interests. we were tracking the story when it

the rnc was saying 48 state primaries do not matter. only had iowa and new hampshire at this point. i think he was certainly hearing from more pem than he expected that there would be pushback. nikki haley is in his head and she's running a smart and serious campaign, but the work has done and the deck is stacked against donald trump. she would have to pull out a miracle and super tuesday and all favor him, the nevada caucus, for example. so i'm not surprised that he's just okay with keeping things as are because things are very much toward him trending to being the nominee. >> what do you think of this? >> i think it's a very interesting backtracking that he's doing because he's bullish that everyone is rallying around him, but now he understands that he has to play within the political parties, right? the state parties that should hopefully support him should he become the nominee, but it is interesting, to alyssa's point. nikki haley is getting under his skin and for him to have to take this tone while also wanting her to get out of

the move with the rnc. the analogy i would use, rocky three is the greatest of all the rocky movies. what did rocky boy west fight? he observed the blows from compelling, trying to get him angry so he would make a mistake. the challenge there if you're nikki haley or joe biden is, you have to take a lot of punches from someone who takes full throws a lot of punches and likes to do that. but, also are you rocky path or not? the analogy, again, best of the rocky, movies the analogy is there. >> i don't, no man. rocky ended the cold war in part for. let's never forget that. isaac, the other fascinating thing about this is it's actually working against trump. he's getting frustrated by. this >> people close to trump tell us and they would prefer trump stay on the arguments about the economy and immigration and those sorts of things. but they cannot control, trump here is, this seats what biden saying and it gets under his skin. then he lashes back. good example of that was a couple weeks ago and biden said, tru

this was the members of the rnc. this was david bossie who brought this to the rnc committee. going to convene at the winter meeting in las vegas next week and all 168 committee members would be able to decide, brian. >> brian: this is going to continue. looks like they will continue to fight it out. take her at her word. five weeks to south carolina. she is not competing in nevada. she said she had no shot there. i'm not sure what her reasoning is. >> ainsley: trump said she didn't fill out the paperwork. >> brian: she said trump rigged the process, i'm not really sure. she is not going to be a factor in the first week of february. wait until the end of february in south carolina to find out what she has. we have not seen a poll in -- since october in south carolina. now, there's a reuters poll out. so, for those people who come out and say donald trump can't win the general, you have to make another choice. and there's a lot of people out there. the polls are just not reflecting that. reuters has trump up by 6. and when r.f.k. is in the race, i think he wins by 4. r.f.k. end

trump pushed back against it today and the rnc has withdrawn that resolution, _ today and the rnc hasange the dynamics, which is that donald trump is cruising _ dynamics, which is that donald trump is cruising to — dynamics, which is that donald trump is cruising to reelection, again, in nikki _ is cruising to reelection, again, in nikki haley's home state. is she living _ nikki haley's home state. is she living rent—free in his head? yes. does _ living rent—free in his head? yes. does he — living rent—free in his head? yes. does he want her to drop out? yes, might she _ does he want her to drop out? yes, might she do — does he want her to drop out? yes, might she do that in the next couple of weeks? _ might she do that in the next couple of weeks? yes. just might she do that in the next couple of weeks? yes-— of weeks? yes. just a quick mention on donald trump _ of weeks? yes. just a quick mention on donald trump and _ of weeks? yes. just a quick mention on donald trump and he _ of weeks? yes. just a quick mention on donald trump and he what i of weeks? yes. just a quick mention on d

haley, hitting the trump rnc for not being honest., how is haley doing beyond the sort of refereeing issues? well, she had a campaign that just got the biggest fundraising week yet with 4 million. again, one more indicated that there's at least some hunger at their among republican voters to have a race. all eyes are in the next few states. >> so, he threw out insults, and he talks about revenge. that's what his acceptance speech was. it was about revenge. america deserves answers, and donald trump won't give them to you. he really needs to come face to face, man up, donald. i know you can do it. let's get it done. >> i told you, there is that theme. our point tonight is not to tell you which candidate should be picked. indeed, the primary is for that. but, when you see one candidate who has so much going for him and still wants to shut down voting, it makes you wonder, what is he afraid of? and, as nikki haley would put it, is he afraid that if enough people vote over enough states, over enough time, with all these other trials going

it's the same thing with the rnc picking the nominee.t need take over anything that the american people have the right to do. i think that i've always said i think donald trump has the right to be on the ballot. i've always said i trust the american people. they know how to make good decisions and so i think that they're going to see this for what it is. they see that he's completely distracted. they see that he's going on these rans about how he's the victim, and i think that's exactly what we don't need a strong leader to be, and so you know, these court cases will keep happening one by one. we'll keep seeing him in a ourm and we'll see him come out and do a press conference and that's not what a president to be. that's not what we want russia to see. that's not what we want china to see and what we want iran to see. >> what's unique about this case is the jury has ruled. they found him liable of sexual abuse. do you not trust the jury and their findings, ambassador? >> i absolutely trust the jury, and i think that they made their deci

the rnc jumping the gun with a draft resolution declaring donald trump as presumptive nominee. and we know who pressured the rnc to pull that back. >>> and the former president back in the courtroom for closing arguments in the e. jean carroll definamation trial. >>> and breaking overnight, a new method of capital punishment has been carried out in the u.s., alabama the first state to use my nitrogen gas to execute death row inmate. "cnn this morning" starts right now. sf >>> this morning donald trump is taking his presidential campaign back to the courtroom as he tries to bend the will on multiple fronts. and he will be back at his defamation trial for closing arguments right here in new york city after briefly taking the stand yesterday. the jury will soon decide how much the former president needs to pay his rape a being could you sayer for branding her a liar. yesterday we heard trump testify that he only wanted to defend himself, the family and the presidency. but overnight he unloaded. >> i have no idea who she is, where she came from, this is another scam, a political wi

being the rnc force her out? >>> tonight, derailed.ald trump doing his best to kill a deal on his signature issue, the border. the former president tonight acknowledging on social media that in his words our country is in serious trouble citing open borders and it is apparently not serious enough to deal with those borders now because they went on to add a border deal now to add another gift to the radical left democrats. the former president has been privately lobbying for a bipartisan deal in congress, a deal this had yawn an mouse gop support and that was until trump got involved. here's how the push from the former president is playing on capitol hill. at. >> fact that he would communicate to republican senators and congress people that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame biden for it is really appalling. >> i don't know how we miss the one opportunity to fix it, and we say i would have loveded to have fixed it, and i'll wait. >> when the senate has to show some courage any do something that at

which he later disavowed. >> and he pushed the rnc and his people at the rnc to say that he should be nominee and that they should push me out. only two states have voted. there are 48 more that have to vote. no matter what donald trump thinks, he can't bully his way to the white house. it's not going to work. peter: president biden is expected to win easily here in the democratic primary next saturday even dean phillips, the other guy on the ballot stepped up to the microphone a few weeks ago he thinks 95% of the democratic primary voters will go to biden. tommy. >> thank you so much, peter, have a great night in south carolina where hopefully it's warm. it's a little colder here in new york but i'm wondering, joe, i want to go to you first. i want to go to trump and haley later, south carolina, very important to joe biden, previously he's there went to the barbershop, got a photo-op and putting his time for the first time election season, what do you think the chances are, though, that he could mess it up, gaffe moment tonight to play off of the brewery incident? >> is there a numbe

we are back with former rnc -- james carville.i just got a little bit of nostalgia and -- because it was 33 years ago right now, when i started dating my wife, and she was the chief of staff of the rnc. and i would spend hours in office going back and forth, and -- mister chairman. and -- who is that democrat. so, the rnc used to be a -- when governor steele ran, that it was a very organized thing, republicans would vote, 94% for a republican nominee, it was uniform, unified party. that's not what it is today. donald trump has just run roughshod over the entire operation. miss mcdaniels, seems like a perfectly nice person, she's completely ineffective, completely at donald trump's bidding. and there is not -- and i think steele would agree with me, there's not a republican party, in the sense of when he graduated georgetown in 1992 law school -- i couldn't pass -- the george town law school. but anyway, it was a different, it was a different party. and we should be treated as the same thing, it's not -- me with mary -- and and any

the reversal comes after the rnc faced major criticism for the draft resolution. trump was initially on board, but then he told supporters he wanted to beat nikki haley, quote, the old fashioned way. cnn's alayna treene is in washington this morning with the latest on this. >> reporter: good morning, john, you're right. donald trump and his campaign were initially on board with this draft resolution, we're told, until they started to see the backlash that it was garnering. part of the reason they were initially in support of it is it would greatly benefit donald trump if this were to be approved. it would allow him access to benefit from their ground game strategy and data operation as well as from fundraising on the trail with the rnc. they shifted their tune after they saw the immense backlash that this draft resolution was receiving, especially after it began circulating in the media. trump allies were reaching out saying that they were concerned about this, angering a lot of republicans, and really showing that maybe trump was trying to stack the deck against

i don't think this is the place of the rnc to do it. i think that trump overstepped when he pushed them to do it, and i think that's why he's had to back down. >> do you think he had knowledge and awareness to do that and then pulled back? >> we know exactly the people that pushed are his people, and i know during the debates he was pushing mcdaniel to stop the debates. he's been pushing them to pay for his lawsuits and all of these other things, but at the end of the day, this is not about the rnc. this is about the american people toti this is not about the political party deciding who they want to be the nominee. when i ran for governor, there were five nominees toti i was far from being the only nominee. they did the same thing to me then. i won then. i'm going to win now. >> as you know, trump has the double-digit leads. he secured the endorsements of a lot of the tot officials in your state. do you need to win in your own state in order to win the nomination? >> first let's talk about the people he surrounded himself with in south

you said something about the rnc move we'll get to in a second.here was a great moment you had on your show with katelyn dawson, a well-known republican in the sweet state of south carolina as nikki haley would say, about the bigger whip with which donald trump, mostly him personally, are going after nikki haley, especially and even about what she was wearing. let's listen. >> underestimating the ability for trump to polarize as many women in south carolina as he can with his -- with his seedy little comments about what nikki had on. >> he has seen it all in south carolina. one of the things he said in the interview was he under estimated north carolina when she first came out in south carolina. nobody thought she could win. she figured it out. she brought in sarah palin and did it over the boys. if ever there was a boys club it is in the south carolina republican party, right? she won that governor's race, and katon was a strong surrogate for her. he gets at if she is going to have a path in south carolina, she has her finger on it. i was talking

the rnc wants the white house? >> totally, but donald trump can't be controlled.ll campaign team is different than eight years ago. >> why wouldn't they be rooting nikki haley, someone that could help him win the white house. >> this is donald trump's republican party, anybody that pushes back against him, they're thrown off the cliff, they're irrelevant. this was a change in week chblt -- in week. he's already gotten rid of mike pence and ron desantis and these other candidates. he's had all the fun i think he's going to have in the year of 2024. now this is the part where all of the criticism, the most direct attacks from the one republican left standing, nikki haley, are coming and at that point we're going to start getting verdicts out of not only this jury here today, but also in simple fraud trial, the criminal trials are going to begin. the democrats are going to start putting resources into donald trump, it's not going to be much fun for donald trump. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you very much. >>> coming up, the warning a reagan appointed judge overseeing ja

let's get the rnc to put a stamp on it.w it plays out. >> i am, too. >> neil: no, you said that's it. >> she's not going to win. face it, the republican party is not the republican party that, you know, you and i might adore. >> neil: that's immaterial to this discussion. you're good with numbers, a couple of best sellers. you explore numbers. you're very good at them. >> that's why she's not go to win. >> neil: at this point, it's a long way to 1,215 delegate. >> it's a short way for her to losing every race in every state. >> neil: you're encourageable. i don't know what that words mean. you are it. we'll see. very early. very early. >> listen, i want to keep coming on your show talking about this. >> neil: right now you're doing this. >> i hope that lengthen it out as long as possible. i don't think it's going to happen. >> neil: look at the time. good seeing you. i mean it, he's the best in the business -- >> if you like pia colladas. you know that song. >> neil: we ticked off more than a few people there. just want to

steve of the rnc in iowa, thank you for joining us. now to some other news.ew video released by hamas purports to show the bodies of two dead israeli hostages in gaza. we aren't going to show you that but it claims to show a 26-year-old speaking under duress, saying two men she had been held with, a 53-year-old andy 38-year-old, were killed in captivity. in a statement accompanying the video, hamas claims the hostages were killed by israel's bombardment. the israeli military spokesperson denied this. they claimed the building where they were being held was not an israeli target. he called the video proof of life from the woman, but they said they had grave concerns for the two men's fate. they are accusing hamas of using psychological abuse, adding wildly intense -- while the attacks on south gaza will end, israel put pressure on hamas, arguing the group will not agree to releaseostages without it. a 70-year-old woman has been killed and at least 18 injured in a stabbing at car ramming attack in the central israeli city north of tel aviv. two palestinians fro

she says the rnc is leveraging the establishment to try to crown trump the presumptive nominee. but i'm in this to win it and i'm not going anywhere. one of haley's most prominent supporters is the governor of new hampshire who blasted the rnc for even considering declaring trump the winner so early in the game. >> we like to talk about civics and the process aptd the voters having the say, but when it comes to donald trump, his attempts -- hypocrisy is so silly because his attempts to manipulate the process that he claimed was so rigged against him a couple years ago. and it is right out in the open. they don't even have the courtesy to go in the back rooms and smoke cigarettes and do it like you see in the cartoons. so from the very beginning rnc, they hired david bossie a former trump guy to design the system do the debates and never forced trump on to the stage do the debates. and now they want to do this resolution. it is just dumb. it is awful. so the good news is this, the voters decide. they really do. there is going to be an election in south carolina and if these washi

her home state of south carolina, just this morning, despite trump's win in new hampshire, and the rnchair saying she does not see a haley path forward. >>> a plane crashes and explodes near the ukrainian/russian border, we've got conflicting reports this morning about what or who was actually on board. sarah is away, i'm john berman with kate bolduan, this is "cnn news central." ♪ >>> this morning, nikki haley, she's headed to south carolina, as she's very clearly banking on her home state to give her a much-needed boost. it's also clear that donald trump wants her to bow out yesterday, and here's the statement from the head of the republican national committee. >> i'm looking at the math and the path going forward. and i don't see it for nikki haley. i think she's run a great campaign. but i do think there is a message that's coming out from the voters, which is very clear, we need to unite around our eventual nominee which is going to be donald trump. >> but nikki haley, she's already on the air this morning in south carolina with a multi-million dollar ad buy slamming donald trump,

rnc yanking resolution to name donald trump as presumptive 2024 nominee before he clinched required number of delegates. this after the former president spoke out against it on truth social. they have far more votes necessary, i feel for party unity, they should not go forward with this plan, i should do it the old-fashioned way. nikki haley's campaign addressing the proposal. who cares what the rnc says, let republican voters who should be the party nominee, not a bunch of washington insiders. haley continueings to push for a debate with trump and her team raised $2.5 million over the last two days. >> he got upset and said he would take one and challenge me to one and he would beat me. maybe he would. maybe he wouldn't. what i said is okay, if that is the case, get on the debate stage and let's go. >> carley: on the left, president biden is set to visit south carolina touting his bidenomics agenda ahead of the first 2024 primary by the dnc next month, same state joe manchin attended on thursday, further fuelling speculation over potential third-party run coming after super tuesday, which

. >> meanwhile, governor, you are also a former rnc chairman.ersian that's currently in that role is run and mcdaniel. chase faced some backlash, win last week after just two primary and caucus contests she came out instate nikki haley should just drop out of the primary race. she called on your party to call this around donald trump. what do you make of her to win that in her role as rnc chair woman? >> totally inappropriate in my judgment. you are a neutral and detached magistrate when you are serving as rnc chair. you don't favor any of the candidates running in your party. a rule that is obviously not part of the formal roles of the party. it shouldn't have to be. it is recognized as that mission meant of loyalty to the process and your party, all of those involved and the party, not a select few. another distortion frankly demanded and expected by the main candidate running for president, donald trump. >> i want to talk about this legal brief you and a group of other former public and governors who signed on to -- you are saying to the supr

what's your reaction to this move, and it hasn't happened yet, but there is a move inside the rnc to say it's over. >> first off i think there's a certain irony in this in that you have a process to decide who the nominee is for the republican party and you want to circumvent that process. right, so that aside the practical purposes of this are nothing, right? it still says -- the resolution still says he still has to attain a certain -- the required number of delegates in order to be the nominee. so what it is i think it's a movement to say, you know what, let's just stop all this theater, nikki's going to lose and let's get her out of this race. but in practical purpose it does do anything for the rnc. >> ronna mcdaniel has already declared him the nominee. this is a way of just sort of kicking her out and saying, you know, we're not going to pay any attention to you. and done by, you know, trump's buddies because that's exactly what he wants. >> and in keeping with this theme, donald trump on his social media site, truth social wrote, quote, nikki "birdbrain "haley -- that's his c

rnc chair woman ronna mcdaniel joins us now.aign we have a sense there are 430,000 voters that voted so far. they want to hear more from the other half of the party that doesn't support the former president. what is the rnc's take is this>> well, one thing about the whole field of candidates that ran for president, i commend them. they have been great. this has been a great contest but history was made tonight. we never had a nominee in our party that won without winning both either iowa or new hampshire. donald trump first ever to win both. i don't see it for nikki haley. i think she ran a great campaign. the message from the voters is clear. we need to unite around our nominee donald trump and beat joe biden. it's 10 months away until the november election. we can't wait any longer to put our foot on the gas to beat the worst president who kept our borders opened and allowed fentanyl to pour through and aa allowed rampant inflation. >> what is your take on the republican vote for president trump. 4,000 democrats registered to

the rnc back then canceled 22 primaries and caucuses.o anything and everything to try to stop nikki haley. the talk this last week, jim, that the rnc may consider anointing trump as the presumptive nominee, that came from trump. your own colleague kaitlan collins reported that that was trump's idea. of course it was. let the voters decide. >> and chuck, i did want to ask you about some of trump's remarks earlier today. he was essentially saying that he doesn't want to see a border deal come out of the senate because he wants to be able to run on this issue in the fall. and he said if anybody wants to blame anybody, blame me. what did you -- what did you make of all of that? you spend a lot of time down in texas. a lot of republicans have been saying it's an invasion, there are all these migrants coming across the border, the border's open, it's a crisis. now you're going to leave this problem festering down at the border until january of next year and maybe you might have something then? is that -- >> i always talk about republicans, don

. >> we're joined now by our powerhouse abc news contributors with former rnc chair reince priebusrncir donna brazile. thank you for joining us. tonight, nikki haley lost by double digits. what pleasure will be she be under to get out of this race? >> first thing, have a meeting with her campaign, the best data people she can talk to, where does she go from here? talk to people who are going to help finance her campaign. this is a significant victory for donald trump. i think most people said a talking heads said that if donald trump wins iowa and new hampshire, then it was probably over. and it probably is. and at best, it's a moonshot for nikki haley. it is a lot of work and a lot of time for something that's probably not going very far. >> byron: as for the former president, he made clear tonight he's ready to bring the republican party together and move on. if haley stays in the race, what should we expect from him in the coming weeks? >> well, you know, i think from their standpoint, they've got to get on the money. work with the rnc, do what's called a joint fund-raising agreeme

>> dana: the rnc does an about face. with -- former house speaker kevin mccarthy is ahead. >> you can't bully your way through this process. he has 32 electoral delegates, i have 17. you have to have 1215. there is a long way to go in this race and we're prepared to do that. to learn grit, determination and problem solving. we're taking that passion and channeling it through our farm to home bedding bath, and apparel at red land cotton. we grow cotton in the rich red earth of north alabama. and we want our products to be made here in the usa, from the seed in the ground to the final stitch. go to red land cotton dot com and receive 20% off your order with code fox 20 it's time. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmer's dog. made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. ♪ what about your husband? is he here? no, unfor

so at the rnc winter meeting that starts tomorrow, neither of them will be recognized on the rnc's website. right now michigan's state chair is listed as vacant, because, sure, who needs a party chair in one of the top battleground states in a presidential election year. that's michigan. in florida, that state's republican chair was also ousted, no confusion about that one. he was ousted after a news report that he was being investigated for allegations of rape. police last week cleared him of the rape charges, but they're now seeking video voyeurism charges for allegedly illegally video recording a sexual encounter without consent. then came arizona, where the state republican party chairman has just resigned following the release of a super fishy audio recording of a conversation he apparently had with failed republican arizona gubernatorial candidate kari lake. she of course insists that she won the governor's race in 2022, and she is in fact the rightful governor of arizona right now, even though you can't tell from outward appearances. she contends that the then party chairman tried t

david bossy, long time trump ally tried to pump the rnc to say haley didn't have a path.e clear, it's an up hill clim for her, and she stands facing deficits in her home state of south carolina. she's making the decision to stay in. she has money to stay in. she's waiting for trump to further implode, some sort of development with his legal cases. she's showing signs she's in this at least for a while, and even donald trump himself came out on truth social and suggested i'm going to beat haley the old fashioned way. he didn't want it to be thrown to him. we know how frustrated he is that haley in the race. >> the money she has raised, despite the donor threat, donald trump saying anyone who donates to haley, she hasaised 2.6 million in the last two days. her super pac has raised more than trump, $50.1 million. do you see any path for her? are there any states she can win? >> it's impossible to count her out entirely because donald trump has so many controversies and problems surrounding him, and he could implode or just say something totally horrific that people actually

. >> haley also said the rnc has not been a, quote, honest broker in the republican primary.>> they've never been an honest broker in the time of the trump years. once trump took over the party, they've done everything possible to facilitate things for donald trump and any of his cronies in the course of this. donald trump has used the rnc almost like a personal bank account in order to pay for all sorts of things that are unrelated to getting re-elected. it's not shocking to me. again, what i think is surprising to me is nikki haley just now realizing what the last nine years have been like for the rnc and republicans in many parts of america, of how donald trump is and how he conducts himself. >> matt, did it strike you that some of the language we're hearing from nikki haley is a little trumpian. it sounds a little like trump and she's using the kind of language he uses against him? >> no. this is kind of what happened in 2016 when the field finally woke up to the fact that donald trump was likely to be the nominee and people like marco rubio and chris christie and others

. >> today's rnc chair putting a thumb on the scale with former ifc chair, james carville.kind of looked at the nostalgia because it was 33 years ago right now when i started dating my wife and she was the chief of staff in the city and i spent hours in her office and, the chairman. that used to be a fear when the governor ran it. it was very organized. republicans would vote 94% for a republican nominee for the unified party. that is not what it is today. donald trump has just run a roughshod over the entire operation. mrs. mcdaniel seems like a perfectly nice person and she's completely unaffected. completely out donald trump's bidding at the end. and i think that the governor would agree with me that that is not the republican party in the sense that i couldn't -- but anyway, that was a different party, and we shouldn't treat it as the same thing. it is not -- or anybody else. >> yeah. well, that is what james mentioned earlier, which is that this is not a normal time. we are a country that has political parties, pull this things that kind of look like elections, we call

and every republican of the 160 members that make up the rnc know that. they know better.he shoe were on the other foot, they would be screaming foul if someone were telling donald trump he had to stand down. so the reality of it is, trump controls this process in the end. that's why we're here right now with the national chairwoman, telling nikki haley to step out. nikki, you continue to do you, right, until you can't do you no longer. >> reporter: now to chairman director cameron, you do you. >> reporter: get out of the weekend, straight ahead, health and human services secretary will join us to talk about the record number of sign ups for obamacare, and how democrats can hang up on that accomplishment in 2024. you are watching the weekend. you are watching the weekend. you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, i've bee telling everyone. baby: liberty. oh! baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. li

the shaft won't be official until an affirmative rnc vote takes place next week.republicans are taking as though the matters already settled. in fact, on trump's their nominee and what he says goes. days after trump's decisive win in new hampshire senate minority leader mitch mcconnell's purportedly backing away from a bipartisan immigration deal that would include aid for ukraine because, i, guess trump says so. trump with the rnc's potential presumptive nominee is campaigning on chaos at the southern border. so, last night, mitch mcconnell, who had previously supported this deal -- this very same deal -- suddenly told his members, we are in a quandary. republicans could try to solve a problem that they claim to care about for. but they are choosing not to. why? because donald trump wants to deny joe biden a legislative win ahead of the election. joining me now is tim miller, writer at large for the bulwark, and then msnbc analyst. tim, it's great to have you here. thanks for making time for us. you've got house republican strict-ing border measures into a deal f

the rnc was considering a resolution to make him the nominee.s rich edson with more. >> yesterday republican national committee members were considering a resolution that would have declared former president trump the party's 2024 nominee. today a source familiar with that situation confirms the resolution has been withdrawn. trump went on social media saying that for the sake of party unity, the rnc should not have gone forward with the resolution. some republicans, the former president included, said they're ready to finish this nominating process and move on to the general election against president buy didn't. earlier this week, the former president promised anyone that contributes to nikki haley would be permanently barred from the maga camp. haley's campaign say they raised 1.2 million since that post. >> that is a president that is supposed to serve every person in america. you're deciding you're going to have a club and ban people from being in and out of your club? then he encourages the members of the rnc and tries to push them in to s