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A high adviser to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Friday accused Nikki Haley of “greed” as a candidate, saying that she’s making an attempt to wreck him to assist former President Donald J. Trump within the Iowa caucuses.
The feedback from David Polyansky, Mr. DeSantis’s deputy marketing campaign manager, got here at an occasion hosted by Bloomberg News on Friday in downtown Des Moines, because the blizzard buffeting town compelled the marketing campaign to cancel some occasions later within the day — although Mr. Polyansky mentioned that Mr. DeSantis’s floor recreation was greatest outfitted for the brutal climate barreling.
He was joined by the marketing campaign’s spokesman, Andrew Romeo, and its pollster, Ryan Tyson, however he did a lot of the speaking. He mentioned that Ms. Haley is working in Iowa to attract votes towards Mr. Trump and siphon them away from Mr. DeSantis.
Mr. Polyansky additionally repeated Mr. DeSantis’s declare that Ms. Haley, the previous South Carolina governor, is working to be Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential choose, and criticized her for not ruling out becoming a member of a Trump ticket.
Her donors’ {dollars} “are primarily in-kind contributions to Donald Trump,” he mentioned. “Competition is making an attempt to win. Competition isn’t making an attempt to assist one among your opponents,” he mentioned.
Later that day, the DeSantis marketing campaign introduced that Mr. DeSantis deliberate to fly straight from Iowa to South Carolina, Ms. Haley’s residence state, after the caucuses, to carry a shock occasion there on Jan. 16, his marketing campaign mentioned. He will then proceed to New Hampshire, which votes on Jan. 23, for a CNN city corridor that night. The information was first reported by The Associated Press.
Although he’s trailing within the polls there, Mr. DeSantis’s determination would appear to be a shot at Ms. Haley, in addition to a sign to Mr. Trump that he intends to remain within the race. “We hope Donald Trump is prepared for an extended, scrappy marketing campaign,” Andrew Romeo, the DeSantis marketing campaign’s communications director, mentioned in an announcement.
Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokeswoman for Ms. Haley, mentioned that Mr. DeSantis would “say something to distract from his flailing marketing campaign” after “burning by $150 million in Iowa and dropping half his assist within the polls.” She added, “Nikki is the one Trump various candidate with the assets and momentum to go the gap.”
Mr. DeSantis has been bludgeoned by adverts from each Mr. Trump’s world and Ms. Haley’s. But Mr. Trump’s staff has additionally aired assault adverts towards Ms. Haley.
Mr. DeSantis has been battling to carry onto second place in a state that he had as soon as banked his candidacy on and by which aides had predicted privately final fall that he would win simply. Mr. Polyansky described the marketing campaign as “joyful,” and mentioned the candidate and the staff are having “enjoyable.”
He declined to reply when the marketing campaign final carried out a ballot. Mr. Tyson, seated two seats away from him, additionally answered few questions.
Mr. Polyansky insisted that the volunteer operation and the work by the DeSantis staff — whose discipline operation has been carried out principally by an excellent PAC, Never Back Down — can be important if temperatures are beneath zero, as anticipated, on Monday. But he additionally mentioned that he couldn’t predict the turnout.
“I don’t know how you can measure it anymore, I don’t,” he mentioned. The Trump staff, he added, claims “they’ve obtained an excellent group and possibly they do.”
He added, “We’ll discover out on Monday evening.”
Mr. Polyansky maintained that Mr. DeSantis deliberate to stay within the race by South Carolina’s main on Feb. 24.
He additionally mentioned that Mr. DeSantis, who has been criticized even amongst conservatives for not taking a combat extra on to Mr. Trump, has been going straight on the front-runner for months. Yet Mr. Polyansky’s hardest assaults through the Bloomberg assembly centered on Ms. Haley.
Mr. Tyson, a long-serving adviser to Mr. DeSantis, was requested Friday what occurred to his camp after the Florida governor’s re-election victory final yr, when he had appeared poised to doubtlessly overtake Mr. Trump.
“I don’t actually have a solution for that,” Mr. Tyson mentioned. When requested if he wished that Mr. DeSantis had waited till 2028 to run for president, he mentioned that he stood by Mr. DeSantis.
“I don’t have any second ideas on that,” Mr. Tyson mentioned.
He added, “Doing this second-guessing factor, I simply don’t really feel is suitable for me,” throughout what he described as an “unprecedented environment.” And he mentioned: “I don’t suppose that’s useful.”
Nicholas Nehamas contributed reporting from Des Moines.
