they say texas kept the feds from helping a woman and two children who died crossing the rio grande. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. we begin with donald trump getting a warm embrace from frigid iowa. nbc s garrett haake is just north of des moines. garrett, what is the former president saying in his closing pitch? reporter: good afternoon, from what will surely be a donald trump jr. event here today in ankeny as the trump team tries to lock in the results of what we have seen in poll after poll over the last couple of weeks. a dominant lead here in the hawk eye state. at his last major rally yesterday, donald trump basically tried to welcome in all the disparate elements of his movement here in this state, be they first time cause of action caucus goers, evangelicals, and warned primarily against their biggest enemy which he views as complacency. listen to what he told a call in indianola yesterday. a victory over all the liars, che
on that list. and voters in this notoriously independent state tell me they are just waiting for her to prove that she can do it. so can she? if you add chris christie s support to hers here in new hampshire, the math is close. we have the narrow paths you could follow out of the granite state with the atlantic s mark leibovich, but before she goes anywhere, she s got to make it through tonight s caucus where it is 0 degrees and getting colder. joining us now from des moines, iowa, is nbc news correspondent ali vitali, staff writer at the atlantic and msnbc political contributor, mark leibovich, and here on set with me is nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster. ali, i m so happy to see you inside on this very very cold day. tell me what nikki haley is doing in the last moments before this caucus tonight? she s making the rounds still, katy. on the campaign trail circuit. specifically in the area that sort of makes a doughnut around des moines. and that s because her focu
But were headed to new hampshire, thats the next state to vote. Somebody might want to tell him that. Reporter and look, it seems both of them have made the calculation that theyre going to wait and hold their fire against former President Trump until they can knock each other out of this race. For florida governor ron desantis, if he doesnt have a strong showing in iowa, his campaign, he says, is built for the long haul, realistically, the donors are going to dry up. The momentum is going to slow to a halt here if he doesnt come in second, and a strong second at that given all of the resources that hes put in here. But for nikki haley, she also has a problem. Shes got momentum in new hampshire, shes in striking distance. South carolina, that is trump country. I traveled across that state a couple of months ago. It is not the same state it was when she was governor there. Its redder, more conservative, and it is much more in favor of Donald Trump than it was just a little while ago, an
Yes. Im an independent, but im going to vote for Nikki Haley to slow trumps momentum. Reporter you see New Hampshire voters looking at this as a way, some of them, as a way to slow down trumps momentum. One other factor here, the polls that i mentioned that show Nikki Haley within striking distance. Most of those were down before former new Jersey Governor Chris Christie left the race. He was a candidate who was polling in third place, had a consistent 11, 12 in the same polls. Theres an open question as to where his voters go. I checked with some voters who i met at his Campaign Suspension from last week, and the voters said they didnt know what they would be doing. The majority said theyre looking at Nikki Haley. It depends on what happens tonight in iowa, as that Iowa Result will have an impact in how strong those New Hampshire voters see the candidates. Shaquille brewster, fascinating stuff. There is an issue not only
Insurance. good to be with you, i m katy tur coming to you today from, wait for it, manchester, new hampshire. so why new hampshire on this iowa caucus day? well, because as nikki haley undiplomatically put it, new hampshire is where the race starts to really matter. iowa, as much as we love her, rarely picks a winner. while new hampshire has repeatedly given a b12 shot to the underdog. bill clinton in 92, john mccain in 08, now nikki haley wants in