Nikki Haley Backtracks on Texas Secession Remarks After Facing Severe Backlash — 'The Constitution Doesn’t Allow for That'
Haley vowed to stay in the race for the 'long haul.'
Nikki Haley was forced to backtrack her Texas secession remarks this weekend after she faced significant backlash for the surprising comments, RadarOnline.com can report.
Haley’s controversial claim came last week when she told Charlamagne Tha God that states like Texas have the ability and the right to leave the Union if they so choose.
Nikki Haley focused on California after an embarrassing loss in Nevada on Tuesday.
“If that whole state says, ‘We don’t want to be part of America anymore,’ I mean, that’s their decision to make,” she told the comedian during his Breakfast Club radio show on Wednesday.
“Let’s talk about what’s reality,” Haley added at the time. “Texas isn’t going to secede.”
Flash forward to Sunday, and the 2024 GOP primary candidate walked back the comments she made during Charlamagne’s radio show last week.
“No,” Haley clarified during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union this weekend. “According to the Constitution, they can’t.”
Later in the evening she was interrupted by a climate protestor.
“What I do think they have the right to do is have the power to protect themselves and do all that Texas has talked about seceding for a long time,” the former South Carolina governor added. “The Constitution doesn’t allow for that.”
Haley went on to claim that her Texas secession remarks were misunderstood and that she was making a point about states’ rights and a state’s right to defend itself when the federal government was not there to help.
She used the recent controversy taking place at the southern border and Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s fight against the Biden Administration as a prime example.
“What I said is when government stops listening, let’s remember states’ rights matter,” Haley told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “You have to be as close to the people as possible. No one is talking about seceding. That’s not an issue at all.”
The GOP candidate quickly corrected herself after she confused Orange County for LA County.
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“Texans are frustrated, and rightfully so,” the former UN ambassador continued. “Governor Abbott’s frustrated, and rightfully so. When have you ever seen a president not support a governor when they’re trying to keep their people safe?”
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“It’s a real problem,” Haley concluded.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the recent Texas secession incident was not the first time Haley has found herself in hot water for remarks made regarding states’ rights.
Haley appeared to forget where she was campaigning at an event on Wednesday.
The 2024 GOP presidential candidate faced a similar backlash in December when she refused to cite slavery as the main cause of the U.S. Civil War.
"I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms of what people could and couldn't do,” she said during a campaign event in New Hampshire late last year.
Haley once again backtracked on those comments and later clarified that "of course the Civil War was about slavery.”
"Of course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. That's the easy part of it," she said amid the mounting backlash in December. "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."
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