DeSantis Campaign Press Release - DeSantis' Debate Night Smackdown in Des Moines

DES MOINES, IA - At the CNN debate tonight at Drake University, DeSantis highlighted his vision for the country while also calling out Trump for not defending his record on the debate stage and highlighting Haley's flip-flops on issues that matter to Republican voters.

"In tonight's debate smackdown, Ron DeSantis exposed Nikki Haley's record of caving to the radical left and catering to her establishment donors, while highlighting his vision to fight for the American people and win on the issues that matter to them," said James Uthmeier, campaign manager for Ron DeSantis for President. "As we saw tonight, when the lights get bright and she is actually held accountable for her words and actions, Nikki Haley will say anything because she stands for nothing – her flip-flops on this campaign and throughout her entire public life exemplify this. By contrast, Ron DeSantis has actually delivered on 100% of his promises. He's refused to back down to the left and beaten them time and again. While Nikki Haley had no answer for her recent insults to Iowans, Ron DeSantis made clear he shares their values - and with tonight's big win we're headed into Caucus Day with strong momentum."

The top moment of the night came when DeSantis said: "You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations, but you can't take the United Nations out of the ambassador."

He continued saying: "She doesn't articulate how this comes to an end, except she was asked after the last debate, by I believe Megyn Kelly and she said you bring it to an end by bringing Ukraine into NATO. But of course, we're a NATO country. So, if you bring Ukraine into NATO that puts the United States at war.

Megan said that to her, and then she basically gave a word salad as to how you go from there. So, they have sent cash. She supports this 106 billion that they're trying to get through Congress. Where is some of that money going? They've done tens of billions of dollars to pay salaries for Ukrainian government bureaucrats. They've paid pensions for Ukrainian retirees with your tax dollars. We've got homeless veterans, we have all these problems. This is the UN way of thinking that we're somehow globalists and we have unlimited resources to do. You know, I think here's the problem. You can take the ambassador out of the United Nations, but you can't take the United Nations out of the ambassador."

Watch the clip HERE.

Another top moment came when DeSantis called out Donald Trump for his failure to debate on stage and defend his record: "Donald Trump should be on this stage. He owes it to you here in Iowa to explain this change he's had in his positioning."

The other top moment of the night came when DeSantis channeled Ronald Reagan in his 1976 speech saying: "Here's the thing: We need to fly a flag of bold colors, carrying the banner of putting the American people first, not the pale pastels of the warmed over corporatism of people like Nikki Haley."

Watch the clip HERE.