Nikki Haley in 2024 CNN Town Hall

On Abortion: I think we can all agree on banning late-term abortions

On Budget & Economy: We've got to go back to being fiscally responsible

On Education: Parents talk to their kids about gender--not in schools

The idea that we have biological boys playing in girls' sports, it is the women's issue of our time. My daughter ran track in high school. I don't even know how I would have that conversation with her. How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker rooms? And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year. We should be growing strong girls, confident girls.

On Energy & Oil: We're not the problem; China and India are the problem

On Foreign Policy: Kim Jong-un is a thug; nothing good or decent about him

On Foreign Policy: China is our number one national security threat

On Free Trade: When I was governor, I sold South Carolina to everyone

On Government Reform: States passed election integrity laws which we needed

On Gun Control: Secure schools with onsite police, not gun-free zones

You know, everybody wants to say, oh, let's get rid of AR-15s. The reality is, even if you did that, it might make you feel good today, there's going to be another shooting next week. The reason a lot of these happened, and you mentioned that shooting at the schools, you need to end gun-free zones. Killers always look for a place that's a gun-free zone, because guess what, nobody else is going to be able to protect themselves.

On Immigration: We will defund sanctuary cities once and for all

On Principles & Values: Trump thinks Jan. 6 was a beautiful day; it was terrible

HALEY: Yes. He thinks that was a beautiful day. I think it was a terrible day. I'll always stand by that.

On Principles & Values: The best way to appreciate God's blessings is to give back

On Principles & Values: Focus on idea that America is the best country in the world

On Social Security: Raise the retirement age to reflect life expectancy

On Technology: Guardrails for artificial intelligence--not heavy regulation

On War & Peace: War in Ukraine is about freedom--one we have to win

So when you're dealing with Russia and China, I'll give you an example. The Russian plane knocked down our U.S. drone a couple of weeks ago. Remember that? What do we do about it? Nothing. You know what I would have done if I was president? Put two drones up there in a fighter jet and put our naval fleet back in the Black Sea because it never should have left in the first place.

On Gun Control: I don't trust government to deal with red flag laws

On Civil Rights: Everybody associates the Civil War with slavery

HALEY: If you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery. You grow up and you have -- you know, I had Black friends growing up. It is a very talked-about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina when it comes to, you know, slavery, when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War, all that. I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward. I shouldn't have done that. I should have said 'slavery.' But in my mind, that's a given, that everybody associates the Civil War with slavery.

On Government Reform: Take many federal programs and send them to the states

And then we're going to go and take as many federal programs as we can and send them down to the states. That will reduce the size of the federal government, but it will empower people on the ground. Think health care. Think welfare. Think education -- if we started doing that.

On Gun Control: For school shootings: more mental health; more security

We have to secure our schools the same ways that we secure our airports and our courthouses. And that means we make sure that we have whatever we need to, to make sure nothing comes through bullet-wise or otherwise. We need to have a security officer at the front of every school. We need to have one point of entry, no side or rear entries. And then, we need to make sure that we have someone on staff, a mental health counselor that does nothing but look to see which kids may be in crisis.

On Immigration: Admit immigrants on merit, not on random quotas

On Principles & Values: Pardon Trump: he was the right President at the right time

For me, it's not about guilt or innocence. It's about what's in the best interest for the country. And I don't think our country will move forward with an 80-year -old president sitting in jail that allows our country to continue to be divided. I think pardoning Trump and moving on is in the best interest of our country if we're going to heal and if we're going to get back together, and get out of the chaos.

On Principles & Values: Show people how you're similar, not how you're different

On Tax Reform: Let's make the small business tax cuts permanent

On Civil Rights: America has stains about racism, but fix it along the way

HALEY: When you look at the Declaration of Independence, it was that "men are created equal," right? I think it's important that we tell all kids that, "Look, America is not perfect. We have our stains. We know that. But our goal should always be to make today better than yesterday."

Q: Wasn't America founded institutionally on many racist precepts, including slavery?

HALEY: It said, "All men are created equal;" the intent was to do the right thing. Now, did they have to go fix it along the way? Yes. But I don't think the intent was never that we were going to be a racist country. The intent was everybody was going to be created equally. And as we went through time, they fixed the things that were not "All men are created equal." They made sure women became equal, too. But I refuse to believe that the premise of when they formed our country was that it was a racist country to start with.

On Drugs: Marijuana isn't like heroin, but let states decide

HALEY: I mean, I think I'll go with the scientists on that. I think it's obviously not in the same class as heroin. But I also think when you're looking at the legalization of this, I want states to be able to decide that. That's something that should be as close to the people as possible. Some states are all for it and want to see that happen, and some states want nothing to do with it. But I do think that should be a state decision on whether they legalize it or not.

On Drugs: Fentanyl via northern border too; create addiction centers

What I have found out from New Hampshire is, we don't talk enough about the northern border. The southern border is in terrible shape, but 500 people on the terrorist watch list, have come through the northern border. You look at the fentanyl and all that. I learned that from [New Hampshire], because you have been affected by it every day.

America refuses to deal with addictions, which we have to deal with. And there are answers to this. Let's release [federal] resources, so that every state can do what they need to, to get the mental health facilities that we need to have in our states, to have the addiction centers.

On Energy & Oil: Climate change is real, but no extreme transitions

HALEY: You know, it's interesting, because I think that this has been made to be a partisan issue. And it shouldn't be. We all want clean air. We all want clean water. We all want a world for our kids that we know is going to be strong and healthy for them. And so, if you look at that, then it's, how do we get there, right? I do think climate change is real. I think that's acknowledging a fact. We need to acknowledge our facts to know where we go. The problem is, we have seen extremes. So we have seen some people who say, "oh, climate change doesn't exist." And then we see others who say, like Biden, "everybody's got to drive an electric car by 2033." You don't live in extremes. But you also look at, what's the transition? Rather than demonizing producers, partner with the producers, because you will find a lot of the energy producers want to do innovation.

On Government Reform: Offer "term limit pledge" to all candidates for Congress

HALEY: Absolutely. I mean, I have been a term limit proponent for as long as I can remember. The reality is that Congress has never going to vote for term limits, right? What we do instead is I will have a Haley term limit's pledge. And everyone, when they file for office, incumbent or otherwise, has the option to either sign the term limit pledge or not And then I'm going to put all of that out for you so that you know exactly which candidates are for it, and which candidates are not. And that way you are empowered with the information. And when we get enough of those individuals to sign the term limits pledge that get into Congress, then we will go and say, "it's time to vote on it and hold them to account on that." So, we'll do it from the outside, and I always think the best way to move reforms forward is when you work with the people to push it from the outside in and force Congress to do the right thing.

On Homeland Security: Don't give cash to friends or foe; you can't follow it

HALEY: Great win for the Taiwanese election. And it happened on the heels of China doing incredible amounts of intimidation with drone tactics, with trying to spread misinformation. So it really was a win for freedom and democracy. A setback for China for sure.

Q: [Should we help Taiwan with troops, or just money and supplies like in Ukraine?]

HALEY: I don't think that we should ever give cash to any country, friend or foe, because you can't follow it, you can't hold it accountable. Really important. The second thing is we don't need to put troops on the ground anywhere. As the spouse of a military combat veteran, you don't ever want to see your loved ones go to war. But what you do have to do is deter it. There's a reason the Taiwanese want the U.S. and the West to support Ukraine. Because they know if Ukraine wins, China won't invade Taiwan.

On Jobs: Retrain workers for post-AI, like when textiles went abroad

HALEY: When you create a platform like that, it always creates more jobs along the way. Our goal should be, how do we make sure those people have the skills to fit those new jobs? You know, when I came in [as Governor], we had 11% unemployment. All of the jobs in South Carolina had been in the textile industry. And when the textiles went overseas, so went our jobs. And so we started to recruit. And by the time I left, we were building planes with Boeing, more BMWs than any place in the world. We brought in Mercedes-Benz, five international tire companies. But our South Carolinians knew how to make textiles. We went and got them reskilled so that they could do the new jobs. That's the key is, don't leave anybody hanging. Anybody that has had a job that they're watching it go away by artificial intelligence, let's make sure they have the ability to get trained for new jobs that are coming in.

On Technology: Full disclosure on Big Tech algorithms & bots

HALEY: I will always fight for freedom of speech. What I was referring to when it comes to our tech companies is there is a responsibility that our social media companies have. What I think they should do is they should show us their algorithms. They should be completely transparent so that you know why they push what they push, why you see what you see, all of that. That's a business transparency situation. When it comes to disclosing who you are, I'm not saying that Americans have to disclose their name. What I'm saying is you have millions of foreign bots, where there are no people behind them. There are millions of bots that are spreading disinformation, that are sowing division in our country. And what I'm saying is those social media companies have to do something with the foreign bots.

On Technology: A.I. can be dangerous, but enforce law instead of regulating

HALEY: When you look at artificial intelligence, don't look at it as good or bad. See it as opportunities, but also see it as a warning. When you look at artificial intelligence, a lot of good could come from it: innovations, whether it's in health care, whether it's in education, whether it's in creating the next new industry. When you create a platform like that, it always creates more jobs along the way. But there are some warning signs that, if we don't deal with it the right way, could be incredibly dangerous. So, the first thing is, let's look at the security perspective. I don't think you regulate AI. I am not a fan of government regulating anything. I think they tend to break more than they fix. I do think we need to put laws in place to protect Americans, laws that say, if you use A.I. to steal a person's identity, that's against the law.

On War & Peace: Never should have lifted terrorist label from Houthis

HALEY: Keep in mind, there would be no Houthis without Iran. There wouldn't be Hamas without Iran. And what truly fueled Iran was when Biden fell all over himself to get back into the Iran deal. When he lifted the sanctions on Iran, it was the most dangerous thing he could have done. When he lifted the terrorist label off the Houthis, that was another thing he never should have done. When Iran and their proxies get cash, it goes to fuel terrorism. And now we have that area of the Red Sea. That's a dramatic part of our global supply chain. And so now that they have started causing trouble there, you know, what we're seeing Biden do is now he's like, "uh-oh, we're going to go put the terrorist designation back on them." And now even if he put the sanctions back on Iran, it's going to take a while to do that.

On War & Peace: In Afghanistan way too long; never negotiate with Taliban

HALEY: I think that there's a little bit of fault to go around to all sides. The pressure by the American public to get out of wars was important. We had been in Afghanistan way too long. My husband served in Afghanistan; they will tell you, "you can't go and build a new country." And I think that was a terrible mistake. But when you know you want to pull back, you do it in a way that's smart and sensible. Biden wanted to hit it by a certain date. He wanted to do it by September 11.

Q: Trump ultimately negotiated with the Taliban.

HALEY: What Trump did, we never want to see Taliban on U.S. soil ever. No agreement, no anything. I don't want them at Camp David or anywhere. I think it was a mistake to even try and negotiate with the Taliban because this is a group that you can't negotiate with.

On War & Peace: Palestinians don't want a 2-state solution; but "maybe"

HALEY: When I was at the U.N., the two-state solution came up over and over again. And Israel always showed up at the table. The Palestinians always rejected the two-state solution, because they want a one-state solution. The Palestinians don't want Israel to exist. We saw that over and over again. Any discussions we had with them, the Palestinian Authority doesn't want to negotiate with Israel. So all the heat always goes to Israel and people always forget the fact that the Palestinians are saying "no" at every breath. When the Palestinians demand anything, Israel has every right to demand security. Israel has every right to say we don't want terrorists on our border. And so will there ever be a two-state solution? Maybe. But Israel has to defend themselves first.

On Welfare & Poverty: Homelessness is shameful, and it's not their fault

HALEY: Well, we're seeing homelessness is up 12 percent. We now have 650,000 Americans who are homeless; 35,000 of them are veterans who are homeless. It's shameful. This is not their fault. It's the fact that inflation is up. We're seeing a lot of families get squeezed. It's the fact that America refuses to deal with the cancer that's mental health. America refuses to deal with addictions, which we have to deal with. And there are answers to this. This is why I want to move as many programs from the federal government down to the states, because, right now, a lot of it's tied up in D.C. You have got over $300 billion that's spent on things like mental health and behavioral services in D.C. Only $1 billion of it gets down to the states for states to decide how to use it. Let's release those resources, so that every state can do what they need to, to get the mental health therapists they need to have.