for nikki haley. in our recent polls e. haley was within single digits of donald trump. christy had 12 percentage points. the question is how that impacts her in iowa remains to be seen, but that would certainly give her momentum as he heads into south carolina and nevada. she would really challenge trump in new hampshire if she got all the of those supporters. one thing they do have in common is foreign policy. you know, they re very pro-u pro-ukraine. you heard them talk about it tonight, pro-israel. so that s one area where they can sort of find some way to get together, because she is very strong in the way that he likes. that may be one thing he can point to that he likes about her. yeah, they re from the establishment wave of the republican party. she is trying to, i think, soften her language on determine
somebody by name, he did. it was the disdain for his opponents. it s not like you have a lot of other great people to choose from. i m sure you ll make the right pick. he said, anyone who is unwilling to say donald trump is unfit to become president is unfit to become president. we all recall that point in one of the debates where nikki haley refused to say he s unfit. they went back and forth on that. i was sort of again, it was chris christie saying, look, the party has destroyed itself, because we can t even come up with any candidates who wouldn t raise their hands and say they wouldn t vote for a convicted felon. . i think he s a man without a country right now, and he knows it. you could see it in his
voice against trump in the general election. it will be interesting to see if he chooses to do that, but that s an argument that joe biden and the democrats are making about donald trump. it s helpful, chris christie knows trump, he was incredibly close to trump, and can vouch for him can speak to his character or lack thereof. yeah. it s helpful to have him doing that. it s a great ad for joe biden, right? the further question for chris christie is how far will he go, right, in a general election if donald trump is the nominee? would he endorse joe biden? we saw some governors do that. governor kasich was part of a big part of the nominating convention. is that something chris christie would think about doing? christie s calling out trump as being a threat to democracy, many republicans certainly agree with that, if but if you notice hallie and desantis have stopped
these polls, so it s hard to point to a single state that nikki haley and ron desantis can win outright and sort of catapult themselves for an outright victory. listen, a lot of candidates came in sort of wishing that they had the kind of base that donald trump has, that they could maybe tear away from his base, that trump was experiencing some sort of fatigue from his voters. it turns out that s not true. it turned out they love him more in 2024 than in 2016 and 2020. you have to think about in that speech tonight, he got somewhat choked up when he talked about, i m putting my ambitions aside, i looked at this, i done see a viable path forward. he felt like he let his supporters down, and i think ultimately he will listen what his supporters and donors want
just days before the iowa caucuses. the former new jersey governor declining to endorse any of his republican rivals, at least for now, even as he urges he supporters to choose a candidate with character. this comes as we re just now a few hours away from cnn s republican presidential debate later tonight, nikki haley and ron desantis about to come face to case for the final time before the iowa caucuses. it s a critically important test as both candidates try to close the gap with donald trump. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. announcer: this is cnn breaking news. it s major breaking news indeed, with chris christie suspending his run tonight. the race is on for other candidates as to try to pick up his supporters. kylie atwood is with us.