DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis Fires Up Crowd of Caucusgoers in Grimes with 8 Days to Go

"She [Haley] was asked yesterday why she said Hillary Clinton was an inspiration to her. And her response was that she never said that. That is a lie. She wrote that in her book."

DES MOINES, Iowa – Ron DeSantis was joined by Congressmen Chip Roy and Thomas Massie to speak with hundreds of fired up Iowa caucusgoers at McDivot's Indoor Sports Pub in Grimes, Iowa this afternoon.

After talking about why he is the best candidate to take on Joe Biden and reverse the decline of our country, DeSantis took questions from attendees. Keep reading for the highlights and watch the full event here.

On how he will defund the UN:

I will defund the United Nations. You should not be funding the United Nations. Absolutely. I mean, honestly, it's a total farce of an organization, the anti-semitism, anti-Israel. It's like a rogue's gallery, you ever ran on the Human Rights Council? And you know, just like the way I view it is, it's your tax dollars. It's not the government's money. I mean, like the Democrats will say like, oh my gosh, you know, Biden gave you this or that. And I'm like, no, no, it's not his money. It's your money. So can I justify going up to a truck driver and saying, 'Hey, We need you to pay taxes so that I can send to the United Nations?' No, I could not do that. And that's a contrast in this race because Trump funded it gladly for years, and Haley was in the United Nations and justified funding the United Nations when she was testifying in Congress, under oath. I've never had any use for it. And we will absolutely defund the United Nations.

On Nikki Haley's string of recent gaffes and lies about her past:

[Haley] says that Iowa's votes need to be corrected, and all this other stuff. It's just ridiculous. But she was asked yesterday why she said Hillary Clinton was an inspiration to her. And her response was that she never said that. That is a lie. She wrote that in her book. And she's told the story, she's on video doing this. And it's like, okay, you are inspired to run for office, not by Ronald Reagan. Not by Margaret Thatcher, but by Hillary Clinton. Just own it. You have video, yes, is on tape and everything, to tell Iowans that she'd never said that, when that's just factually false. You know, that should show you, are you somebody, a candidate that's coming here saying things, then you change your personality to go in the next state? And then keep doing that? Or like Popeye, I can say I am what I am, like, I'm going to tell you, it's great. And I don't have to make all those adjustments. I don't have to do any of that stuff. So that's one thing.

On how he will keep his campaign promises as President, unlike Trump:

The former president, you know, he's running on saying that he's going to do an executive order on birthright citizenship. And I don't think people that come illegally are entitled to birthright citizenship. So I think that needs to be done. But he ran in 2016 saying the exact same thing. So he got in, he had four years, all he had to do was sign an executive order, it would have taken 30 seconds. He could have sat down, gotten it, signed it, done. Four years, never signed the executive order on birthright citizenship. So now he's running, saying he's going to do what he could have done the first four years. And you've got to ask yourself: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me on this. And so he had a chance to do it. He didn't get the job done. You can't have any assurance that he would actually follow through even if he could get elected going forward.

On the campaign's grassroots momentum in Iowa:

Now's the time to be active. Now's the time where you guys can make a difference. Not just I mean, obviously, I'm the candidate, but I'm just a vessel for all this. I mean, it's really a movement to change the trajectory of this country, and to restore the greatness of America. So we have it within our power to do it. So if you've committed for us, bring a bunch of people. I hope the rest of you will commit to us today. We've got ways you can sign up and do the whole nine yards. And I hope you'll bring a lot of people you know. It's going to be very, very cold. So these are really committed caucus goers who really are passionate about fixing this country and I know that is likely most of the people in this room.

On being prepared for "the long battle" ahead:

I've said, I've put a lot of time in here because I think it's important, and I think that Iowa gives you an opportunity to be on the ground and get underneath all the media chatter and just talk to people face to face, and Iowans appreciate that. But anybody saying somehow, like, we're only doing Iowa, that's just a flat out lie. You know, you have to be built for the long haul. You know, we've got a great organization in these other early states. You know, you have some candidates like Haley, she didn't even get on the ballot in Nevada for the caucus there. And so we're definitely doing that. I think, you know, there's always these things they tried to do in caucuses where they tried to plant this rumor, all that stuff. I think Iowans know that that's just typical scuttlebutt, that that's not -- they're going to try to, Trump will do whatever he can. So as caucus night, they'll try to make something up. But make no mistake, you know, we've got a mission. And we've got to complete this mission. It's a long process. It's an arduous process. I think Iowa is going to be a great way for us to start the process, but we certainly have a lot of road after that. And, you know, we're girded for that long battle.