CNN town hall with Nikki Haley

Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley addressed a broad range of issues Sunday night during a CNN town hall in Iowa.

Here’s a look at some of the claims that the GOP presidential candidate made:

Social Security: Haley said that political leaders need to start tackling Social Security reform before the entitlement program is not able to fully pay all the benefits owed in a decade or so. She gave a couple of options.

“Instead of cost-of-living increases, we do increases based on inflation,” Haley said.

Facts First: Haley’s statement is misleading. Social Security’s cost of living adjustments are already based on inflation. The annual boosts are intended to help senior citizens and other beneficiaries contend with the annual change in prices.

The formula for determining annual adjustments is specified in the Social Security Act. The adjustments are based on increases in a certain inflation index, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, known as CPI-W.

The adjustment is equal to the percentage increase, if any, in the CPI-W for the average for the third quarter of the current year compared to the average for the third quarter of the last year in which an adjustment went into effect, according to the Social Security Administration.

From CNN’s Tami Luhby

Climate Change: Haley claimed that India and China “are the problem” when it comes to emissions and the environment.

“The United States is very good when it comes to emissions. If we want to really fix the environment, then let’s start having serious conversations with India and China. They are our polluters. They are the ones causing the problems,” Haley said.

“We need a fair playing field. We’re not the problem. The Chinese and the Indians are the problem,” she continued.

Facts First: This needs context. While it’s true that China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the US comes in second. The US is also the world’s biggest historical polluter and still has larger per capita greenhouse emissions than either China or India.

China is by far the world’s largest emitter of polluting greenhouse gases at nearly 30% of the world’s emissions, but the US is the number two at around 11%, according to 2019 data. India is hovering above 6%, right around the European Union.

While it is true that US emissions are creeping downward, the country has emitted more over the course of history than any other nation. Emissions in developing countries like India are going up as they rely on fossil fuels like coal to power their economy.

And if you look at emissions on a per capita basis, the US leads both China and India. The US emits around 17.6 tons of emissions per person, while China emits about 10.1 tons per person, according to a report from the nonpartisan energy think tank Rhodium Group. India is far lower, at around 2.8 tons per person, according to the World Data Lab.

From CNN’s Ella Nilsen

Read more fact checks from tonight's town hall here.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley just wrapped up a CNN town hall in Iowa, where she faced tough questions from host Jake Tapper and GOP caucus voters.

The former UN ambassador said backing Ukraine is about protecting freedom and stopping tyranny worldwide, setting a stark contrast with her former boss Donald Trump.

Here are some of the key moments from tonight's event:

• Haley says she will hold Congress accountable on spending: Haley said that, if elected, she would veto any spending bill that doesn't take the US back to pre-Covid levels. "When I was governor of South Carolina I had to balance a budget. You have to balance a budget. Why is Congress the only group that doesn't have to balance a budget?" she said. Haley went on to criticize the bipartisan stimulus bills passed by lawmakers during the coronavirus pandemic, saying they spent excessively to expand welfare programs.
• She says China is the US' "number one national security threat": Asked for her views on US-China relations, Haley said Beijing tops the country's list of security concerns. "For too long, Republican and Democrat presidents thought if they were nice to China, China would want to be like us. That's narcissistic. China does not want to be like us, but they want to be like communist China," she said.
• Haley strays from Republican front-runners on Ukraine: In striking contrast to former President Donald Trump and leading challenger Gov. Ron DeSantis, Haley was unequivocal in her support of Ukraine. "This is bigger than Ukraine. This is a war about freedom, and it's one we have to win," said Haley, who once served as UN ambassador to the US under Trump.
• She criticized DeSantis over Disney: Haley hit out at DeSantis, saying he was wasting taxpayer money in his feud with Disney. She said his "vendetta" against the company is hypocritical, because he once had a cozy relationship with its leaders even as it took a "woke" tack during the Trump administration.
• Haley slams Biden on Afghanistan: Haley’s sharpest words on foreign policy were directed at President Joe Biden, whom she blamed for setting the stage for Russian aggression by mishandling the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. “We’ve got chaos everywhere and none of that would’ve happened,” she said, if not for the clumsy – and deadly – departure from the country the US invaded in 2001.
• Haley avoids direct answer on federal abortion ban: Haley said that despite the fact that she's "unapologetically pro-life," she believes abortion policy requires further consideration. She noted that in order to pass any policy you need a majority of the House, 60 Senate votes and a signature of a president. She called for Congress to find common ground, like banning late-term abortions and encouraging adoptions, but declined to draw a hard line around issues like a federal ban.
• Pushing back on gun control: Haley said she would oppose “red flag” gun laws that allow courts to temporarily seize firearms from anyone believed to be a danger to themselves or others. “I don't trust government to deal with red flag laws,” Haley said. She also said getting rid of AR-15s will not prevent mass shootings, instead emphasizing plans to address mental health issues — though she did say she supported law enforcement removing illegal guns.
• Haley calls for tougher immigration approach: Haley said she would reinstate the provisions of Title 42 and defund sanctuary cities as part of her plan to fix the US immigration system. If elected, she also vowed to institute a national e-verify program for confirming workers' immigration status, reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy for migrants awaiting immigration proceedings and cut off undocumented immigrants from entitlement programs.

Read more takeaways here.

CNN's Gregory Krieg, Eric Bradner and Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley took the stage Sunday night for a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa.

See photos from the evening at Grand View University:

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley used personal anecdotes while discussing policy during Sunday's town hall — a move that allowed her to appeal to voters, but also dodge more complicated issues, CNN's Audie Cornish said.

"She's very effective at using her, her, personal biography to make specific points. But it also allows her to dodge certain issues and questions," Cornish said on CNN's special coverage following Haley's town hall.

Cornish explained that Haley is able to talk about her thinking process on why she is a candidate against abortion but then "what slides right under that is an attack against the Biden administration, unfairly claiming that their stance is abortion up until birth when we know that the president has said that they basically support the codification of Roe v. Wade — which does allow for abortion restrictions."

"But you can't attack someone on their personal biography, right?" she said.

Cornish also noted how Haley discussed her personal experiences with discrimination, but then actively says that racism is not systemic.

"It's the same thing where she can talk extensively about the effects of racism in her life but always ends by essentially saying it's not systemic," Cornish said. "That this is just something I went through and everything is fine now because America is a great country."

Cornish described Haley's approach as a kind of "one-two punch," where she attempts to use her biography to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters but then adds in hard-line policy.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley argued that former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are “not being honest with the American people” — as both GOP 2024 candidates pledge to not cut Social Security or Medicare benefits for Americans. 

It was a rare attack by name on the former president from Haley, who has largely avoided overtly criticizing Trump as she campaigns against her former boss for the GOP 2024 nomination.

Haley’s campaign has been more critical of DeSantis, including in recent weeks over his ongoing feud with Disney. 

“We can’t keep kicking this can down the road. And I know that Trump and DeSantis have both said we're not going to deal with entitlement reform, well all you're doing is leaving it for the next president, and that’s leaving a lot of Americans in trouble,” Haley told CNN’s Jake Tapper at a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa.

Haley said, “I think it’s important to be honest with the American people. We are in this situation. Don’t lie to them and say oh we don’t have to deal with entitlement reform. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. It’s the reality. I’m always going to tell the truth. Is it going to hurt?  Yes. But for our kids, they know they’re not going to get it anyway.”

More background: Haley has called for changing the retirement age for Americans currently in their 20s and limiting Social Security and Medicare benefits for wealthier Americans. 

Though Trump says he won’t cut Social Security and Medicare benefits, his administration’s budget proposals included cuts to such social programs. DeSantis also expressed support for privatizing Medicare and Social Security during his first campaign for Congress in 2012. 

Asked what core values serve as a foundation and underpinning for her political leadership, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said her parents taught her the importance of "faith and a conscience." 

"That's what it was... to take care of those that take care of you," she said in tonight's CNN town hall. "You know, don't wait for something just because you're going to get something out of it. Do it because it's the right thing to do."

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said former President Donald Trump is wrong to defend the events of January 6, 2021, when his supporters rioted at the US Capitol as Congress counted electoral college votes.

“He thinks it was a beautiful day; I think it was a terrible day. I’ll always stand by that,” she said during tonight's CNN town hall when asked about Jan. 6 and comments made by her former boss.

Haley did not repeat the wild conspiracy theories that Trump and his supporters have spread about the 2020 election, and she acknowledged that “President Biden is the president.”

She said, though, that while it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the 2020 election, efforts to expand voting access during the pandemic in 2020 were problematic. And she endorsed “election integrity” laws such as voter identification requirements that many Republican-led states have enacted since then. Many critics have said those laws will make it more difficult for some people, especially marginalized groups, to cast ballots.

“I think it’s important that voters want to have election integrity. That’s the biggest thing,” Haley said. “There’s nothing worse than when a country and their citizens don’t trust the election system.”

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley called out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for what she characterized as wasting time and money on a personal "vendetta" against Disney.

Answering a question during Sunday's town hall, Haley said DeSantis once had a cozy relationship with Disney, but "because they went and criticized him, now he's going to spend taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit."

"It's just like, all this vendetta stuff, we've been down that road again. We can't go down that," Haley continued.

The former South Carolina governor said DeSantis was being hypocritical, only taking issue with the company now despite them being a "woke" company dating back to the Trump administration, and said he should not bring taxpayers into his personal issues.

"Pick up the phone, deal with it, settle it the way you should," she said.

Some background: Disney filed a lawsuit earlier this year accusing DeSantis of weaponizing his political power to punish Disney for exercising its free speech rights when it objected to a state law restricting instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

DeSantis orchestrated a state takeover of a special taxing district in Central Florida that Disney had controlled for more than half a century as it built its theme park empire near Orlando. Some Republicans have bristled at DeSantis’ ongoing legal battle against Disney, with concerns about the Florida governor retaliating against a private business. 

CNN's Kate Sullivan contributed reporting to this post.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she had ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, used on her when discussing the growing age of artificial intelligence.

"Someone read an intro of me, and they had used ChatGPT to get it. And they asked me how accurate it was," Haley told moderator Jake Tapper.

Haley said it was "pretty accurate."