"Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker and NBC’s Steve Kornacki join "TODAY" to discuss former President Donald Trump’s major win in the Iowa caucuses and what the paths forward means for Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.
Republicans hit the post-Iowa campaign trail
DeSantis kicks off the day with a morning event in Greenville, S.C., before heading to New Hampshire for a meet-and-greet and a CNN town hall.
Trump is set to deliver remarks in Atkinson, N.H., while Haley is scheduled to hold a rally in Bretton Woods, N.H.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Dean Phillips, of Minnesota, will hold a trio of events in New Hampshire.
Haley campaign says she will debate only if Trump takes part
Nikki Haley challenged Donald Trump to start debating as she heads to New Hampshire after finishing just behind DeSantis in the Iowa caucuses.
“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign,” Nikki Haley said in a statement released by her campaign. “Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
ABC News was planning to host the next GOP candidate debate Thursday night at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Trump has consistently refused to take part in any of the Republican primary debates.
Trump attends start of new Carroll trial after Iowa caucuses
Trump is attending the start of the new Carroll civil damages trial today.
He traveled from Des Moines, Iowa, to New York City following the state’s caucuses that NBC News projected he won last night.
The trial centers on a defamation case brought by Carroll, a magazine writer who accused the former president of raping her in the 1990s, then defaming her when she went public with her allegations.
A New York jury last year found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. She was awarded $5 million in damages in May. The jury did not find Trump liable for the rape allegations.
The second trial, starting today, involves Trump’s public comments about Carroll that he made both while he was president and after the jury’s verdict in May.
Takeaways from the Iowa caucuses: Trump benefits from fierce, distant fight for second
DES MOINES, Iowa — The fight for second fiddle plays on, but the Iowa caucuses were full of hints that the music will eventually stop for candidates not named Donald Trump.
In the short term, the former president won a bonus on top of his commanding first-place finish: Because his two leading rivals finished so close to each other for runner-up in Iowa, the war between DeSantis and Haley promises to continue into New Hampshire and beyond.
DeSantis signaled his intention to stick it out earlier by planning a visit today to South Carolina — which holds its primary more than a month from now. His second-place Iowa finish will only reinforce that decision, giving his team and allies an argument to raise more money. But the margin was too close for comfort or joy.
Haley, who had less riding on her performance in Iowa, missed a chance to knock DeSantis out. Still, she is turning to much friendlier terrain in New Hampshire, where some polling shows her within shouting distance of Trump.
But the potential seeds of destruction for each of Trump’s opponents were planted beneath the ice-covered cornfields of this state. They are among the four takeaways from what may be the last first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.