Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race just two days before the New Hampshire primary, and endorsed former US President Donald Trump.
"We don't have a clear path to victory," DeSantis said in a video posted on X as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.
In the video, DeSantis said he was endorsing Trump because it had "become clear" that "a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance".
DeSantis' announcement came just a few days after 30-percentage-point loss to Trump in the Iowa caucuses. Trump was leading with 51 per cent, and DeSantis came in second with 21 per cent.
Former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley head into New Hampshire Tuesday for the crucial second stage of the GOP primaries with the latter nailing the former as a "Liar who doesn't deserve to win" and Trump saying people in Haley's hometurf are deserting her.
Trading barbs at each at a rally Saturday, both candidates made a final push for the Hampshire vote for the nomination among the early voting states.
New Hampshire all set for crucial battle between Trump, Haley
Haley's messaging was direct. She said Trump was a "liar". And Trump hit back at Haley by inviting special guests to the stage in Manchester - South Carolina lawmakers who criticised their former governor, Haley.
"Almost every politician in South Carolina is endorsing me," Trump said.
Haley said Trump and his allies were lying about everything from her foreign policy positions to her proposals for Social Security. "If you got to lie to win, you don't deserve to win," said Haley at an event in Nashua. "Let me explain it to you. Because he's going to lie about me. I'm going to tell you the truth about him."
Nikki Haley criticised former President Trump for confusing her with former speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Californian democrat. Trump mixed up names when discussing the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack at his rally Friday night in Concord, New Hampshire.
Trump repeatedly claimed − "falsely" − that then-House Speaker Pelosi rejected his request of having 10,000 National Guard troops be deployed before January 6, 2021. The name mixes occurred as Trump was criticising Haley.
"Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it because lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they wanted. They turned it down. They don't want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people," Trump said.
Haley hit back at Trump's remarks during a campaign stop in New Hampshire Saturday. "He was in a temper tantrum about me, which is fine he does that often, but he went on and talked about how I kept the police from going into the Capitol on January 6, went on and repeated that I didn't do anything to secure the Capitol," Haley said. "Let's be clear. I wasn't in the Capitol on Jan. 6. I wasn't in office on January 6th. He mentioned it three times. He got confused.
Trump seeks a big win in NH in hopes of pressuring rivals to drop out. Former President Donald Trump used a Saturday rally in Manchester to deliver a warning to Republicans: If he wins big in New Hampshire, he will put pressure on GOP rivals to drop out. We have to come together," Trump told supporters at a chilly hockey arena.
A victory or a close second by Haley will create a tougher race. "We have to win by a lot," Trump said at one point, a statement repeated later. "We need to come together."
Ron DeSantis' schedule continues to raise eyebrows. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is now campaigning in South Carolina just days before the New Hampshire primary, has canceled a Sunday interview on CNN's State of the Union. Announcing the cancellation on the social media site X (formerly Twitter), State of the Union he said that "we look forward to having the Governor join us on the show in the near future."
DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin said on X that "the media hits were canceled due to a scheduling issue and will be rescheduled. The governor will be traveling Sunday morning with the campaign and has public events scheduled Sunday evening through Tuesday in NH."
Haley gets support from Judge Judy: Judge Judy is coming to New Hampshire to stump for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Judith Sheindlin, 81, whose courthouse-based reality show made her a staple of daytime television for 25 years, is scheduled to appear with Haley in Exeter on Sunday, two days before the New Hampshire primary., media reports said.
Rudy Giuliani shows up at a Trump rally. A special guest arrived at the Manchester hockey arena where Trump was speaking. His former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor, whose work for Trump on the 2020 election led to indictment, bankruptcy, and a $148 million defamation judgement against him, avoided the press pen as he made his way to his seat.
Stefanik stumps for Trump: At CONCORD, N.H. - Rep. Elise Stefanik, R- N.Y., told reporters Friday she'd be honored to serve in a future Trump administration. She is rumoured to be hot favourite for Trumps running mate for Vice President. Stefanik, a staunch Trump supporter, has been floated as a possible running mate for the former president. She's criticized indictments filed against him and filed ethics complaints with judges who have overseen cases related to the former president.
Asa Hutchison, Republican, who dropped out of the presidential race, sees Hampshire as a two-person race between Trump and Haley, but backs Haley against Trump. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is supporting former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary, just days after dropping his own 2024 presidential bid.
"Anyone who believes Donald Trump will unite this country has been asleep over the last 8 years. Trump intentionally tries to divide America and will continue to do so. Go @NikkiHaley in New Hampshire," Hutchinson wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday.
"With DeSantis pulling out, basically, it's a one-on-one contest between Nikki and Trump, and so yeah, I'm pulling for Nikki in New Hampshire," he said in an interview. Hutchinson, who was among Trump's strongest critics in the race, decided to end his 2024 campaign Tuesday after he earned less than 1 per cent of the vote in the Iowa Caucuses.
Several other former 2024 contenders, including biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, endorsed former President Trump earlier this week.
