Haley Campaign Press Release - Pre-Debate Video: DeSantis is Lying Because He's Losing

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Ahead of the fifth Republican presidential debate, Nikki Haley for President released a new video highlighting Ron DeSantis' growing list of lies in conjunction with his growing list of campaign failures.

"Ron DeSantis is lying because he's losing. He put all his money on Iowa – literally – and the only card he's got left to play is to lie about Nikki Haley's record," said Haley spokesperson, AnnMarie Graham-Barnes. "Spoiler alert: It's not working."

Ron DeSantis has spent $150 million to lose half of his support in the primary polls. His general election prospects are just as bad, with multiple polls showing Nikki Haley trouncing Joe Biden, Donald Trump barely squeaking by, and Ron DeSantis not beating Biden at all. A Wall Street Journal poll shows Haley beating Biden by 17 points. Trump has a narrow four-point lead and DeSantis doesn't beat him at all.

Desperate and dithering, Ron DeSantis has turned to outright lies about Nikki Haley. Here are some of his most used, most debunked lies:

DeSantis lies about Haley's comments about Hillary Clinton.

• Washington Post: DeSantis PAC snips and clips its way to falsehood in attacking Haley
• PolitiFact: AdWatch: DeSantis super PAC ad misleadingly edits Nikki Haley's comments about Hillary Clinton
• FactCheck.org: DeSantis-Linked Super PAC Uses Out-of-Context Quotes to Label Hillary Clinton As Haley's 'Role Model'

DeSantis lies about Haley's support for tax increases.

• Haley co-sponsored a 2006 bill that raised the sales tax by 1 cent while also cutting property taxes and eliminating the grocery tax. It was a tax cut for taxpayers.
• As governor, Haley stood up to the South Carolina establishment and killed a stand-alone gas tax increase. Haley introduced a roads plan that would ONLY raise the gas tax if the legislature agreed to cut South Carolina's income tax rate, resulting in a massive net tax cut.
• Fact checkers called DeSantis' attacks false here, here, here, and here.

DeSantis lies about Haley's immigration policies.

• Haley signed one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration laws in the country in 2011.
• Haley fought Obama's DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to enforce South Carolina's E-Verify law.
• Haley fought the Obama administration on accepting Syrian refugees, undocumented minors, and Guantanamo Bay prisoners in South Carolina.

DeSantis lies about Haley's record and his own on Social Security.

• In Congress, DeSantis voted to raise the retirement age to 70 in 2013, 2014, and 2015. In 2012, Ron DeSantis told a local Florida newspaper that Social Security was unsustainable and was never intended for people to be retiring at "65 or 67" if they are going to live into their eighties.
• Haley has ONLY called for adjusting the retirement age for younger workers in their twenties like her children.
• Fact checkers called his claims "misleading."