Fifth GOP presidential primary debate: on Crime

Nikki Haley: Law and order in our cities by empowering law enforcement

HALEY: What I would do is, first of all, defund sanctuary cities. It's hugely important that we do that. That's where we're seeing a lot of crime. But the second thing is, our law enforcement is demoralized right now. Because if they go and they arrest someone for having a stolen gun, it's demoralizing when they go through all that effort, put their lives at risk, and then you turn around and let that criminal go the very next day. Prosecutors need to prosecute according to the law and we've got to start holding them accountable. When we bring law and order back to our cities, then that's when they'll be safe. You don't do it by defunding the police, and you don't do it by just praising the police. You do it by having their backs. We have to get these stolen guns and drugs off the street. And the only way we can do that is when we empower law enforcement.

Ron DeSantis: Citing George Floyd killing is "virtue signaling"

Gov. Nikki HALEY: When we bring law and order back to our cities, then that's when they'll be safe.

DESANTIS: Nikki Haley and I have a disagreement on the BLM stuff, because she tweeted during this period of time that the death of George Floyd should be "personal and painful for each and every American". She was virtue signaling to the left, she was accepting the narrative, and she was trying to impress people who were never going to like us. I never bought in to going after the police, we backed the Blue to the state of Florida, and we're about lower crime as a result of that.

HALEY: When I said that about George Floyd, when we turned around and had the worst shooting in a religious place that we had seen in this country, not only did I pass the first Body Camera Bill in the country and keep our state together, we came together as a state in prayer and we had no division, no riots, no anything.