Nikki Haley was pressed on Fox News Wednesday to explain her recent failure to mention slavery when asked to state the cause of the Civil War.
“I want to visit this because it’s going to continue to come up. And the reason that it has is maybe you haven’t put it to bed yet,” host Harris Faulkner said to the Republican presidential hopeful.
The Fox News host pointed to criticism from Black conservatives and asked Haley, “What have you learned?”
Haley claimed, “What I should have said immediately was that the Civil War was about slavery. But I just assumed that that was a given.”
She brought up the fact that, when she was governor of South Carolina, she authorized the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds in 2015 after a racist mass shooting that killed nine Black churchgoers in Charleston. (She had been reluctant to address the issue for years prior, however, and had previously defended the flag).
“Really, the media is the only one that has talked about this issue,” Haley added of her slavery omission.
Harris pointed out, “No, that’s actually not true.”
Haley went on, insisting that “not one person on the ground in New Hampshire or Iowa are talking about it. I’ve done multiple town halls.”
That also isn’t true. The day after the incident, a voter asked Haley a question, offering her an opportunity to “redeem yourself after last night’s slavery thing.”
That morning, following fierce backlash overnight, Haley had backpedaled, telling a New Hampshire radio station the Civil War was obviously about slavery. She also claimed the person who asked the question was a “Democrat plant.”
Faulker acknowledged the “plant” accusation but suggested it was irrelevant, noting that Haley declined to cite slavery as the cause of the war even when prompted by the voter.
“Whatever,” Faulkner said. “It’s a question put to you, and on a re-ask, ‘what would you have me say about slavery’ was your answer.”
Haley said it was a mistake and her campaign was moving on.
“I should have said slavery,” she said. “I didn’t do it. I immediately the very next day came out said, ‘I was wrong.’ I’ll do that. We’re moving on.”