Daily News Brief for Wednesday, January 17th, 2024

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Wednesday, January 17th, 2024. 

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-narrowly-denied-clean-sweep-iowas-99-counties-1-vote

Trump narrowly denied clean sweep of Iowa's 99 counties by 1 vote

Former President Donald Trump won 98 out of 99 Iowa counties during Monday's dominating victory in the Republican caucuses.

The one county that did not go for Trump was Johnson County, where former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley led Trump by one vote with 99% of votes counted. Haley received 1,271 votes, approximately 35.5% of the vote in Johnson County, while Trump received 1,270 votes, according to GOP officials in the state.

Haley finished third statewide behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump pulled in a majority of votes with 51%.

Haley claimed her third-place finish was evidence of momentum when considering polling numbers in upcoming primary states.

"When you look at how well we’re doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina and beyond, I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race," Haley said.

DeSantis visited every county and invested significant time and resources in the Hawkeye State, and weeks ago was predicting he would win the caucuses. Recently he had been saying he embraced the underdog role in the state.

"Because of your support, in spite of all of what they threw at us, we got our ticket punched out of Iowa," DeSantis said in his speech.

DeSantis outperformed some polling expectations on Monday night, finishing at roughly 21% when the Real Clear Politics average of polls showed him at 15.7% before votes were cast.

"They threw everything at Ron DeSantis," a senior DeSantis campaign official told Fox News Digital late Monday night. "They couldn’t kill him. He is not only still standing, but he’s now earned his ticket out of Iowa. This is going to be a long battle ahead, but that is what this campaign is built for. The stakes are too high for this nation and we will not back down."

Trump currently holds large leads in the polls in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. The former president, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, holds a 14-point lead in New Hampshire and a 30-point lead in South Carolina.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/16/nikki-haley-refuses-more-presidential-debates-unless-trump-participates.html

Nikki Haley refuses more presidential debates unless Trump participates

Nikki Haley said she would not participate in any further primary debates unless front-runner Donald Trump is on stage.

The former president won a landslide victory Monday in the Iowa Caucus, the first contest of the 2024 presidential nomination. Haley placed third in Iowa, with 19.1% of the vote.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Haley of not wanting to answer “tough questions” on topics such as her alleged dealings with aircraft manufacturer Boeing while she was gov