Sen. Joe Manchin won't say if Biden would make better president than Nikki Haley
Sen. Joe Manchin declined to say whether President Biden would be a better president than GOP candidate Nikki Haley on Monday.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., didn't want to comment on whether he believed GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley would be a better president than President Biden on Monday.
Asked by CNN's Kasie Hunt if he believed Haley would be a better president than Biden, Manchin said he wasn't going to say. Haley lost to Donald Trump in the South Carolina primary on Saturday by roughly 20 points, cementing him as the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
"Well, I‘m not going to say who would be a better president. I know that that Nikki Haley is in the fight and I think she‘s done a tremendous job so far and she‘s holding her ground and she‘s speaking truth to power and not afraid to go head-to-head with Donald Trump. And we‘ll just see what ends up," he said during the media appearance.
Manchin said earlier in the interview that Biden has gone "too far left," and said he wanted to bring Biden back to the center.
Hunt asked Manchin what Biden had to do to secure his endorsement and Manchin called on the president to declare a national emergency at the border, especially if Congress wasn't able to pass legislation on it.
"I think he has to, I mean, I really truly believe that, if they‘re going to play games," he said. Manchin also said he would never vote for Trump, but stopped short of saying he would vote for Biden.
"I would do everything I can to make sure they come back," he said, referring to bringing Biden back to the center. "I think that basically they need to know where we‘re going to win from, if he‘s going to win, he‘s got to win by attracting more of the center… They want that person, they want their representative, they want their president to come back and represent all of America. And that‘s where you make your decisions."
The CNN host also brought up Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who called on Michigan voters to not cast their votes for Biden in protest of his support for Israel. Asked what he thought Michigan voters should do, Manchin said asking them to stay uncommitted in favor of an unreasonable request, a cease-fire, was "not in the cards."
Manchin also declined to say whether he would support the Democratic or Republican ticket in Michigan's Senate race.
"These are two good people, we're going to see what, what elevates and what comes out of this and support the best person," he said, referring to Mike Rogers, a former Republican representative for Michigan, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., the likely Democratic nominee.
He emphasized he would be looking for people who are representing centrists in this country.
Manchin also suggested Haley would be an attractive third-party candidate during the interview because she was trying to find the middle.