New Hampshire GOP Debate CANCELED After Nikki Haley Refuses to Attend Without Trump

This just in: ABC News has canceled the New Hampshire Republican primary debate.

This breaking news follows Nikki Haley’s refusal to show up and debate Ron DeSantis unless Trump does, too.

The debate was originally scheduled for Thursday.

Check out the news on social media:

BREAKING: New Hampshire debate scrapped as Nikki Haley insists she will not debate Ron DeSantis without Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/6rVAV28KH1

— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) January 16, 2024

JUST IN: ABC News and WMUR-TV say they will not be moving forward with Thursday’s GOP primary debate in New Hampshire.

Nikki Haley had previously said she would only debate if Donald Trump attends as well.

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 16, 2024

Trump has declined to participate in any Republican primary debates.

Haley straight up refuses to debate DeSantis alone, publicly stating, “The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden.”

With other qualifying candidates, like Christie and Ramaswamy, having dropped out of the race, this left Ron DeSantis as the only willing participant.

Despite DeSanctimonious’ offer to attend and debate two empty chairs, the GOP debate was officially called off today.

Trump and Haley both declined to participate in the New Hampshire debate on ABC

Ron DeSantis went out and publicly stated he would attend anyway and debate 2 empty chairs

ABC just announced they will be cancelling the debate

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 16, 2024

Here’s what ABC News had to say about cancelling the GOP debate in New Hampshire:

ABC News and WMUR are canceling their planned Republican primary debate in New Hampshire on Thursday, citing a lack of candidate participation.

“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement. “As a result, while our robust election coverage will continue, ABC News and WMUR-TV will not be moving forward with Thursday’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire.”

The decision comes shortly after a deadline set by ABC News and New Hampshire TV station WMUR for both former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to respond to their invitations to the debate by Tuesday afternoon.

Neither campaign confirmed they would attend.

Four Republicans had qualified for the debate under previously announced criteria. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie previously confirmed participation — then Christie left the race last week.

Earlier on Tuesday, in the wake of Trump dominating the Iowa caucuses, Haley said in a statement that she would debate only Trump or President Joe Biden — suggesting she would skip a showdown with rival DeSantis in New Hampshire ahead of its Jan. 23 primary.

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Politico also reported:

ABC News has canceled a planned debate in New Hampshire, after GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Tuesday that she would only step foot on the debate stage again if Donald Trump or Joe Biden is there.

“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them,” Haley said in a statement. “He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”

The upcoming debates were slated to take place before the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23. ABC News planned to partner with WMUR-TV to host a debate on Thursday, and CNN announced it would host a debate on Sunday.

But with both Trump and Haley declining to participate, an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday evening that its debate is off. “Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” the network spokesperson said.