Nikki Haley Cancels Iowa Event; Video Shows Empty Room

Nikki Haley
Charlie Neibergall/AP
Hannah Knudsen

Nikki Haley’s campaign reportedly canceled an event at the last minute to avoid what her critics describe as embarrassment, as video showed a relatively empty room and a few pro-Haley signs hanging on a wall.

“If you look around me, technically this is an event that was supposed to start in the last few minutes, and of course it’s empty,” a reporter on the scene said.

“You got empty chairs, stuff packed up in the corner, and signs just hanging on the wall — the only way you’d know that Nikki Haley was supposed to be here,” she said, noting that Haley’s team canceled the event “just a few minutes ago,” suggesting that no one actually showed up:

Fellow competitor Vivek Ramaswamy is among those who mocked Haley’s absence.

“Nikki Haley cancelled her events in Sioux City, Iowa to ‘avoid embarrassment,'” he said.

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, on March 3, 2023, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“I’m headed to Sioux City for our event right now. We’re not cancelling. Four events in northwest Iowa, keeping them intact,” he added. “If you can’t handle the snow, you can’t handle Xi Jinping”:

Even the DeSantis campaign, which has had more than its share of back and forth with Haley’s campaign, mocked the cancellation.

Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to guests during a campaign event at Refuge City Church on October 08, 2023, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

“Ouch. After insulting Iowans last week, Nikki Haley was forced to cancel an event when no one showed up because she can’t stop making gaffes!” the DeSantis War Room exclaimed.

Haley came under fire last week after telling voters in New Hampshire that she trusts them to “correct” the results of the Iowa caucuses.

“We have an opportunity to get this right,” she told New Hampshire voters. “And I know we’ll get it right, and I trust you. I trust every single one of you. You know how to do this. You know Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it.”

However, Haley tried to save face, dismissing her remark as a joke during a CNN town hall shortly after.

“You are going to see me fight until the very end, on the last day in Iowa,” she clarified. “And I’m not playing in one state. I’m fighting in every state. Because I think everybody’s worth fighting for.”

WATCH — Chris Christie: Nikki Haley “Slippery, Slick Politician” Running to Be Trump’s VP:

Haley stepped in it again on Friday, suggesting that she changes personalities depending on what state she is campaigning in at the time.

“The structure of [the primary] is really amazing. Iowa starts it. You change personalities, you go into New Hampshire,” she said on PBS.

“They continue on, and by the time it gets to South Carolina,” she continued. “It gets bigger going into Super Tuesday. There’s something very cool about the process”:

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, bashed Haley as a globalist on Saturday as the former president continues to crush her in virtually every poll.

“Right now, we are nine days away from the Iowa caucuses, and the open border liberal globalists and the Democrat donors around the world are doubling down on their chosen candidate, and that is Nikki Haley,” MAGA Inc. spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.

“If you look at Nikki Haley’s record in the past, she cannot be trusted on the issues,” Leavitt continued, emphasizing the U.S. “cannot afford to elect another open border globalist in the name of a Republican.”

“And that would be the case if we did elect Nikki Haley,” Leavitt warned.

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