Haley blames a 'Democratic plant' for Civil War question that tripped her up

Hours after declining to do so, Nikki Haley said on Thursday morning that she believed slavery was, indeed, the cause of the Civil War. She suggested that the person who had asked her the question the night before was a “Democratic plant.”

“Well, two things on this track. I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery. We know that, that's the easy part of it,” the former South Carolina governor told The Pulse of NH — News Talk Radio Network. “What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That's what that was all about. It was about individual freedom. It was about economic freedom. It was about individual rights. Our goal is to make sure, no, we never go back to the stain of slavery.”

She did not go further in addressing why she did not say as much on Wednesday evening when she appeared at a town hall event in Berlin, New Hampshire. Instead, she posited that she had been set up.

“It was definitely a Democrat plant,” said Haley. “That's why I said, what does it mean to you? And if you notice, he didn't answer anything. The same reason he didn't tell the reporters what his name was.”

Haley’s comments came the morning after she was asked specifically what she thought was the cause of the Civil War, to which she responded that it was “how government was going to run” that sparked the deadliest war in U.S. history.

“I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are,” Haley added. “And I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.”

The attendee at the town hall event in Berlin, New Hampshire pressed her several times on the matter, growing more impatient that she wouldn’t name slavery as a cause. The attendee told Haley it was “astonishing” she did not mention slavery in her answer.

“What do you want me to say about slavery?” she responded. She then asked for the next question.

The answer quickly got national attention, with President Joe Biden posting “It was about slavery” with the clip of Haley on X, formerly known as Twitter. An account for Gov. Ron DeSantis posted “Yikes” in response to Haley’s comments.