Want to get right to the results of the Iowa
caucuses?
First contest of the presidential campaign.
Donald Trump won more than 50%
of the vote. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second.
Nikki Haley finished a close third.
Rachel Scott already in New Hampshire,
where the first primary is taking place in one week.
Good morning, Rachel
George, good morning to you.
And Donald Trump's victory in Iowa was so decisive he
got more support than Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis combined.
But now all the focus turns right here to New
Hampshire,
where those candidates have just days to prove that they
can catch the front runner
overnight, a record-breaking victory for former President Donald Trump winning
Iowa in a landslide.
The big night is going to be in November when
we take back our country.
And truly, we do make our country great again.
Trump's 30 point win, the largest for any Republican candidate
in a contested Iowa caucus.
I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a
a good, a good time together.
We're all having a good time together.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis staked his entire campaign on the
state,
coming in a distant second but edging out former South
Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
In spite of all of that that they threw at
us,
everyone against us. We've got our ticket punched out of
Iowa.
Haley who was betting on a strong finish to launch
her into New Hampshire,
falling short and into third.
Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the
Trump by nightmare.
It was the lowest caucus turn out in 25 years.
Those determined to show up braving sub zero,
life threatening temperatures and dangerous driving conditions.
It's been difficult, but we persevere.
And those who persevere to the end,
they're going to win. Iowa rarely picks the eventual Republican
nominee,
but the caucuses often narrow the field.
Trump was quick to suggest it's time for his rivals
to get out of the race.
We want to come together,
whether it's Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative.
It would be so nice if we could
come together and straighten out the world.
And moments later, one Republican did drop out
entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who drew attention for his brash style
on the debate stage and embrace of conspiracy theories,
suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.
Earlier tonight I called Donald Trump to tell him that
I
congratulate him on his victory.
And now, going forward, he will have my full endorsement
for the presidency,
and I think we're going to do the right thing
for this country.
Trump did not stick around long to celebrate that victory
in Iowa.
In fact, he flew overnight to New York.
He's expected to appear in court today in that defamation
case involving writer E Jean Carroll,
the former president, splitting his time between the campaign trail
and the courtroom.
Robin, you flew overnight there to be
in New Hampshire. Glad that you did.
Thank you so much, Rachel.
We're going to bring in our political director,
Rick Klein, to break down the results for us.
Good morning, Rick. Yeah, good morning,
Robin. This was an absolute blowout,
A romp across the state.
Whether it was urban, rural,
it almost didn't matter when it came to Donald Trump.
He won 98 of Iowa's 99 counties.
In fact, the only one he lost,
he lost by a single vote.
So this was utter domination.
And for him to get an absolute majority of the
statewide vote is is stunning and a big surprise,
blowing away the previous record.
Now the battle for a second.
Ron DeSantis captured it, but very,
very narrowly. He needed this kind of showing.
A little bit of a disappointment for Nikki Haley.
But it's worth pointing out,
Robin, that we're talking about a very small turn out.
Only about 110,000 people showed up in Iowa,
way off the record. Way off even where all the
predictions had been and and when as the candidates head
to New Hampshire it is a much bigger electorate and
a much different electorate, a lot more independent voters.
Big opportunity still for Nikki Haley who's been close in
the polls to make the the race in New Hampshire
at least closer,
if not actually challenging Donald Trump.
Rick, as you pointed out,
110,000 people, far smaller than a Congressional District.
But at least among these conservative Iowa voters,
Trump has bent them to his views on the 2020
election.
Yeah, this is stunning. Out of our entrance polls of
caucus goers,
2/3 of people who voted yesterday on the Republican caucuses
said they don't think that Joe Biden legitimately won the
election.
And another 2/3 of of those same voters caucus goers
think that President Trump would be fit to serve in
office even if he's convicted.
And remember, Trump got about
51%. So this means that even people that voted against
him yesterday still think that he would be fit to
serve as president even if he is convicted of crimes.