Politics
'More liberal than Gavin Newsom': Haley and DeSantis clash in first one-on-one debate
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley called each other liars and attacked each other’s leadership abilities Wednesday in their first one-on-one debate — and last opportunity to impress voters before Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
Each thinks they have the best chance to snatch the Republican nomination from former President Trump, who has a commanding lead in the polls and has refused to participate in the debates.
Monday’s caucuses kick off a series of nominating contests that will determine the GOP standard-bearer. New Hampshire holds its first-in-the-nation primary Jan. 23, Nevadans and South Carolinians vote next month, and Super Tuesday — when more than a dozen states, including California, hold caucuses or primaries — is less than eight weeks away. Despite facing 91 felony charges and attempting to overturn the 2020 election, Trump remains the front-runner in polling for the GOP nomination.
Haley and DeSantis clashed about foreign policy, entitlement changes and their respective gubernatorial records. But mostly they clashed over who was the bigger liar.
“She has a record, she makes statements,” DeSantis said about Haley, South Carolina’s former governor. “And I think part of the problem with her candidacy is now that she’s getting scrutiny: She’s got this problem with ballistic podiatry, shooting herself in the foot every other day.”
Haley repeatedly call DeSantis “desperate” and rolled her eyes when he attacked her. She also repeatedly called attention to the Florida governor’s high campaign spending and middling poll numbers.
“If you can’t manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country?” she said, noting that DeSantis had spent more on private planes than on television ads. “If leadership is about getting things done, how did you blow through $150 million in your campaign and go down in the polls?”
Here are some key takeaways from the two-hour debate, which took place at Drake University in Des Moines and was broadcast on CNN:
Haley and DeSantis take on each other — and DeSantis bashes Newsom’s California
The debate was likely DeSantis and Haley’s last major opportunity to sway Republicans in the Hawkeye State before voters gather in subzero temperatures Monday to pick their nominee. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie quit the race just a few hours before the debate began, allowing his supporters a chance to reassess his two former rivals.
The candidates kicked off the debate by repeatedly calling each other liars.
Haley unveiled a new campaign website that chronicled inaccurate statements she said DeSantis had made about her, a theme she continued Wednesday night.
“Every time he lies, Drake University, don’t turn this into a drinking game because you will be overserved by the end of the night,” she said.
DeSantis then compared Haley to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom he debated in November.
“I thought he lied a lot. Man, Nikki Haley may give him a run for his money, and she may even be more liberal than Gavin Newsom is,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis also attacked California’s policies during an exchange about immigration, saying the state gives free health insurance to any undocumented person who lives in the state. (The state expanded eligibility for its Medi-Cal program to any Californian — with or without papers — whose income is low enough to qualify.)
“We should not let states provide these benefits,” he said.
Although no single moment in the debate seems likely to substantially alter the course of the race, debates can buoy or sink candidacies. Haley’s recent surge is largely driven by strong debate performances. In a 2011 presidential debate, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign suffered after he failed to recall one of the three federal agencies he said he would eliminate.
But unless many of Trump’s current supporters change their preferences, he will be the GOP nominee.
Trump takes some hits for Jan. 6 and threats to suspend the Constitution
The candidates have spent much of the election avoiding direct hits on Trump’s character and his efforts to overturn the election, fearing they will alienate his loyal base of voters. But it’s made it harder for them to catch him in the polls.
Haley repeated her refrain that Trump was the right president for the right time, but took criticism of him a step further Wednesday, calling his attorney’s argument that he is immune from criminal prosecution “ridiculous,” and criticizing his false claims that he won the 2020 election rather than Joe Biden.
“He said that Jan. 6 was a beautiful day,” Haley said. “I think Jan. 6 was a terrible day. And we should never want to see that happen again.”
Despite those critiques, Haley has not ruled out serving as Trump’s running mate.
DeSantis was not quite as forceful but took issue with Trump’s call on social media recently to terminate the Constitution.
“You can’t just terminate the Constitution,” DeSantis said before adding that Trump is prone to “word-vomit from time to time on social media.”
But the crux of DeSantis’ argument was about Trump’s electability, asserting that a general election with Trump as the nominee would focus on Jan. 6 and Trump’s legal cases.
“Democrats and the media would love to run with that,” he said.
Once again, the elephant in the room was not in the room
At a town hall just two miles away at the Iowa Events Center, Trump batted away any suggestion that the two candidates would overcome him in the Iowa caucuses or New Hampshire primary. He told Fox News anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier that in his first days in office, he would prioritize closing the border and drilling for oil.
“We have millions and millions of people here. It is not sustainable,” Trump said. “We are going to have the largest deportation effort in the history of our country. We’re bringing everybody back to where they came from. We have no choice.”
In response to a voter’s question if he would “protect all life,” Trump took credit for the abortion restrictions that swept across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court — with three Trump-appointed justices — overturning Roe vs. Wade.
“If it weren’t for me with Roe v. Wade, you wouldn’t be asking these questions,” he told her.
Trump also bragged about defeating Islamic State and said his tax cuts, which disproportionately benefited rich people and corporations, juiced the economy. He also rejected suggestions that he was to blame for a rise in political violence and said he’d be open to “mending fences” with former allies turned foes.
“Now I’ve gotten to know Washington, I’ve gotten to know the people,” he said. “I know the smart ones, the dumb ones, the weak ones, the strong ones.”
He repeated his refrain that the multiple criminal charges against him constitute “a witch hunt.”
Iowa: A winnower or a decider?
Iowans take deep pride in playing host to the nation’s first nominating contest. Haley recently drew their criticism by saying that although they go first in the nominating contests, New Hampshire “corrects” them and then “my sweet state of South Carolina brings it home.” She made the remarks at a town hall in New Hampshire, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Asked about the remark at an event and an interview in Iowa, she responded that she was joking. Not everyone is buying Haley’s explanation. Some in the crowd at the Des Moines town hall booed. DeSantis is airing television ads in Iowa attacking her over the flap.
“Iowans know when you’re telling a joke,” Haley said after DeSantis raised the quote in the first moments of the debate, before adding that the Florida governor’s campaign is largely confined to Iowa, not a winning strategy for winning the White House.
Haley is right that the candidate who wins Iowa does not always secure the party’s nomination. The last three GOP winners of competitive Iowa caucuses — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee — all failed in their efforts to be their party’s nominee. But then-Sen. Barack Obama’s victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses was foundational to his successful campaign to beat front-runner Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and ultimately win the White House.
Haley stands up for the establishment on Ukraine funding
Foreign policy is the area where Haley differs most from Trump. She argued Wednesday that continued funding for Ukraine is essential for protecting allies and preventing China from invading Taiwan. Opponents of helping Kyiv are misleading voters about the costs, which can be covered with cuts to Biden’s green agenda, she argued.
“This is about preventing war,” she said Wednesday. “This is about keeping our military men and women from having to fight a war, and you only do that when you focus on national security.”
DeSantis, a pro-Ukraine hawk when he served in Congress, has joined other Trumpist Republicans in repudiating aid, arguing that it’s too costly and Haley’s policy “is basically a carbon copy” of Biden’s.
“You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations, but you can’t take the United Nations out of the ambassador,” he said of Haley.
Mehta reported from Des Moines and Bierman from Washington. Times staff writer Faith E. Pinho in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Politics
DOJ expands indictment against SPLC, alleging $4M secretly funneled to KKK and extremist groups
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Department of Justice last month announced an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), alleging that the civil rights nonprofit defrauded donors by secretly paying informants associated with extremist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan.
A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned an 11-count indictment in April charging the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, according to the Justice Department.
The superseding indictment retains those charges while expanding on the alleged misconduct.
According to the DOJ, the SPLC “secretly funneled” more than $3 million in donor funds between 2014 and 2023 to numerous individuals associated with extremist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, the National Socialist Movement, participants in the Unite the Right rally and the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club.
NEO-NAZIS, ‘SADISTIC’ BIKERS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE ORGANIZER: 5 OF THE MOST SHOCKING SPLC INFORMANTS
The Southern Poverty Law Center has widespread influence in education. FILE: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, left, and SPLC interim President and CEO Bryan Fair are shown in a split image as the Justice Department pursues charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images)
The original indictment alleged approximately $3 million in payments between 2014 and 2023.
“The SPLC’s paid informants (‘field sources’) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website,” the indictment states.
Prosecutors further allege the SPLC opened bank accounts tied to fictitious entities in order to conceal donor funds that were allegedly routed to confidential sources.
MIKE DAVIS: SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: A TALE OF A RACISM SCAM
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) building seen in March 2020 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)
According to the indictment, the SPLC began operating a covert informant network in the 1980s, and between 2014 and 2023 allegedly paid those sources in a clandestine manner.
The DOJ alleges an SPLC employee instead encouraged the pair to remain involved and offered them a monthly salary of $1,200.
The two subsequently agreed to remain in the organization, according to the indictment.
DR. BEN CARSON: I KNOW HOW BAD THE SPLC WAS, IT CAME AFTER ME AND PUT ME AT RISK
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel at the Department of Justice on April 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C., following the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Prosecutors allege an SPLC employee instructed the individuals to claim they worked for a company called Rare Books and helped college students with research and writing assignments if anyone questioned the source of their income.
The indictment alleges donor funds were used to pay both individuals through SPLC accounts.
According to prosecutors, the pair were also reimbursed for expenses related to Ku Klux Klan activities, including cross-burning events and associated costs such as wood and fuel.
One of the individuals is also accused of recruiting new members using donor-funded payments. The indictment further alleges the SPLC knew donor funds were used to purchase materials for Ku Klux Klan garments.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, attorney Abbe Lowell, who represents the SPLC, denied the allegations.
A composite image shows Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche overlaid on photographs of the Department of Justice and FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This apparent superseding indictment attempts to shore up the flaws in the initial charges, but it changes nothing,” Lowell said.
“The SPLC did not lie to its donors, it did not mislead banks it did business with, and its informant program prevented violence and saved lives,” he continued.
“It appears the Justice Department shared the indictment with media before it was unsealed by the court – another example of the government’s troubling handling of this case.”
“We will be addressing these irregularities with the court and look forward to presenting the truth at trial,” he added.
NONPROFIT REVENUE TOTALS SURGE AMID GROWING SCRUTINY AFTER MAJOR FRAUD CASES
SPLC interim President and CEO Bryan Fair speaks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala., on March 5, 2026. (Jake Crandall/Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The superseding indictment also notes that the SPLC’s reported revenue increased from roughly $38.7 million in 2010 to more than $129 million in 2023, an increase of approximately 233%.
According to the filing, the organization’s net assets grew from approximately $238 million to nearly $787 million during the same period.
The SPLC is a longtime nonprofit organization that says it combats white supremacy and extremism through research, reporting and monitoring efforts intended to assist law enforcement and the public.
During a news conference announcing the original indictment, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche alleged the SPLC paid members of extremist groups so it could generate “work product” documenting their activities.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“To that end, [SPLC] was doing the exact opposite of what it told its donors it was doing – not dismantling extremism but funding it,” Blanche said.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, David Spunt, Jake Gibson and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
Buoyed by a new Congressional map favoring their party, California Democrats were eyeing Tuesday’s primary elections as a critical first step toward flipping a handful of House seats and taking back power in Washington.
Results from California’s massive and slow-moving election process were not immediately clear late Tuesday, as polls closed and mail ballots continued to be processed and counted. Still, Democrats were bullish about their chances of advancing candidates to November’s general election in all five districts that were redrawn in their favor as a result of last year’s Proposition 50 ballot measure.
“The path to winning back the House starts with voting in the June 2nd primary,” the California Democratic Party posted online Monday.
Meanwhile, California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin urged Republican voters to make their own voices heard too.
“Like President Trump said, we need to make it too big to rig,” Rankin said on “The Benny Show.” “We need to swamp the vote.”
One of the most closely watched races was in the redrawn 22nd Congressional District in the Central Valley, where incumbent Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) is facing challenges from moderate Assemblymember Jasmeet Kaur Bains (D-Delano) and progressive college professor Randy Villegas.
Another closely watched race was in the redrawn 48th Congressional District in San Diego and Riverside counties, where Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) decided to retire rather than run for reelection, and where Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond — who is endorsed by Trump — is running against a pack of Democrats.
Prop. 50 — which Californians passed with nearly 65% of the vote a year ago — was California Democrats’ response to Texas Republicans redrawing their state’s Congressional maps in the GOP’s favor, at President Trump’s behest. It was also the only major Democratic counterpunch in the wider mid-decade redistricting brawl that has spread across the country in the last year.
Experts expect the redistricting battle to deliver a net gain of a handful or more House seats to Republicans. But Democrats could gain even more ground given Trump’s lousy approval ratings and the long history of midterm election losses for the president’s party.
Combined, those factors make the battle for control of the House incredibly close, which in turn makes the five seats up for grabs in California pivotal — and potentially decisive.
Tuesday’s primaries won’t determine if any of those five seats will indeed flip parties in November. However, the primaries will define those head-to-head races to come and better inform the odds of Democrats toppling Republican incumbents, experts said.
In addition to flipping the seats currently held by Valadao and Issa, Democrats are hoping to pick up three additional seats.
In the 1st Congressional District — which after Prop. 50 lost rural reaches of northeast California and picked up liberal North Bay communities — various candidates were vying for the seat long held by the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), who died in January. They include Democratic state Sen. Mike McGuire and Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher, who is endorsed by Trump.
Voters from the existing district are also voting in a special election Tuesday to fill the remainder of LaMalfa’s term.
In the 3rd Congressional District, which lost an eastern rural stretch along Nevada and now holds more tightly to the Sacramento suburbs, Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) — who currently represents a different district — is running to remain in Congress in a new seat.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Congressional District’s incumbent, Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Rocklin), is seeking to do the opposite. He quit the Republican Party, became an independent and is now running for Bera’s current seat in Congressional District 6, which includes the city of Sacramento and Placer County suburbs.
In the 41st Congressional District, which became more liberal after Prop. 50 by losing voters in Riverside County and gaining them in Los Angeles County, a slate of candidates — including Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier), who currently represents a different district — are running to replace Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona). Calvert, a 17-term incumbent, decided to run in the neighboring 40th Congressional District instead.
In the 40th Congressional District, which covers a swath of inland Orange County and portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, incumbent Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) is now going head-to-head with Calvert, while also facing several Democratic challengers.
Other districts that were not part of the Prop. 50 shuffle are also attracting attention.
In the 11th Congressional District in San Francisco, several Democratic candidates are vying to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the retiring former House Speaker, including state Sen. Scott Wiener; tech millionaire and Democratic political operative Saikat Chakrabarti; and Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors who Pelosi endorsed.
Democrats are also closely watching several races where younger Democrats and progressives are challenging older incumbent Democrats, and where newer Democratic incumbents are seeking to hold onto their seats in relatively competitive districts.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
LOS ANGELES — Outside a Bristol Farms market in LA’s Westchester neighborhood, residents who spoke to Fox News Digital all agreed that homelessness is a top problem facing the city, but disagreed on which mayoral candidate is the right choice to clean it up.
“Love him,” Shelley Zuckerman said about reality television star and independent candidate Spencer Pratt, adding that homelessness is a main motivator of her support for the reality TV star’s mayoral run.
“The fact that he’s not a politician, so he may or may not be a liar, we don’t know that yet, and I know that he wants to do something for LA that the politicians have been saying they’re going to do and then don’t,” Zuckerman added. “And I know politics works, that once you get in there you can’t always do what you want to do, but at least he’s got the passion.”
SPENCER PRATT SAYS HIS POLICY WILL FORCE HOMELESS OUT OF LA AND INTO CITIES LIKE SEATTLE
Los Angeles residents say homelessness is the top problem facing the city as they head to the polls for the mayoral primary. (Fox News Digital)
When asked if crime was a motivating factor to vote for Pratt, Zuckerman’s husband Saul responded, “Of course.”
The couple says they are supporting Republican Steve Hilton for governor.
Patrick Reynolds, who lives in the neighborhood, said he is “not happy with any of the candidates” and called Pratt a “clown” before saying he voted for incumbent Mayor Karen Bass “a little reluctantly.”
Homelessness has been a top-of-mind concern for voters in Los Angeles, and despite Bass being mayor for the last four years, Reynolds said he believes she’s the best choice on that front.
Reynolds, who said he is supporting billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer for governor, spoke at length about the problems with homelessness, including a local park he said has become “too dangerous” to visit in recent years.
KAREN BASS GRILLED OVER BROKEN HOMELESSNESS PROMISE, BLAMES BUREAUCRACY FOR SLOWED PROGRESS
Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt hosts a campaign block party on 10th Avenue in Los Angeles on May 20, 2026. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“Homelessness for sure,” a woman named Diane, who said she voted for Bass, told Fox News Digital, “That’s number one on my list, and I think she’s tried very hard to fix that problem. It’s a big problem, I know. And I just think she is down to earth. She’s not some rich billionaire, which I appreciate.”
Diane said she is supporting former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who served in the Biden administration, for governor because he is a “good guy.”
“I like that he is an immigrant and that he has worked his way up in this world,” Diane said. “I think he has a good sensibility. I like also that he isn’t a billionaire. I can relate to him.”
Dan Madden, a resident of nearby Manhattan Beach, told Fox News Digital that if he could vote in LA proper, he’d go with Pratt.
WHO IS TOM STEYER? ANTI-ICE BILLIONAIRE IN CA GOVERNOR’S RACE FACES SCRUTINY OVER DETENTION INVESTMENTS
A Los Angeles city councilwoman and progressive candidate for mayor Nithya Raman, left, pictured alongside incumbent mayor Karen Bass, right. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“That’d be my man,” said Madden, who added that he is voting for Hilton for governor. “The last 20 years in Los Angeles has been screwed.”
“It’s getting worse,” Madden said about the homeless situation in the Los Angeles area. “They cleaned up here and there. Spots, especially along the beach, coastline, you see it cleaned up. Two months later, everybody’s back.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Pratt, a registered Republican running as an independent, faces off in a nonpartisan mayoral primary against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a socialist.
Tuesday’s election will determine which two candidates advance to the November general election. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, they will automatically be named the next mayor.
-
Ohio5 minutes agoU20 World Team decided at U20 World Team Trials in Geneva, Ohio – WIN Magazine
-
Oklahoma12 minutes agoOklahoma data center boom sparks backlash as Yukon leaders, residents raise concerns
-
Oregon15 minutes agoTimeline video traces SB 1008’s impact on Oregon juvenile justice, viewers can watch now
-
Pennsylvania20 minutes ago1 dead, 2 hospitalized after crash in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, police say
-
Rhode Island27 minutes agoRIIL title-game spots were on the line Tuesday. Here’s who earned them.
-
South-Carolina30 minutes agoSouth Carolina Lottery Mega Millions, Pick 3 results for June 2, 2026
-
South Dakota42 minutes agoRepublican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
-
Tennessee45 minutes ago
TN Lottery Mega Millions, Cash 3 Morning winning numbers for June 2, 2026
