OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:59 AM – Monday, February 5, 2024
GOP candidate Nikki Haley has backtracked on her comments that Texas could secede from the United States if it decided to do so.
When Haley (R-S.C.) was asked whether she thought the Lone Star State had a right to secede, she said “No. According to the Constitution, they can’t.”
“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 Constitution doesn’t allow for that,” she said. “But what I will say is … Where’s that coming from? That’s coming from the fact that people don’t think that the government is listening to them.”
These most recent comments are opposite to remarks that she made last week, where she stated that “if Texas decides they want to do that, they can do that,” referencing seceding.
“If that whole state says ‘We don’t want to be part of America anymore,’ I mean that’s their decision to make,” Haley continued.
Haley’s remarks from last week were consistent with her position from a 2013 interview, in which she stated that she thought states had the constitutional right to break away from the federal government.
According to a decision made by the Supreme Court in 1869, states do not have the constitutional right to secede unilaterally.
This comes as Haley faced criticism after refraining from citing slavery as a major reason for the American Civil War in a December town hall in New Hampshire.
Later, in an attempt to make her followers less angry towards her regarding the slavery comments, Haley declared, “I mean, of course the Civil War was about slavery.”
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