Radio host Charlamagne Tha God questioned Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley about her statements on the history of slavery in an interview on his show Wednesday.
Haley faced significant backlash from the White House and Republicans on the campaign trail after she declined to mention slavery as the reason for sparking the Civil War during a town hall event in December.
"I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run — the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do," she said at the time.
Haley has since clarified that she believes the Civil War was sparked by slavery but that the "bigger issue" was determining the role of government in people's lives. She further addressed the issue during a press gaggle with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Thursday.
"I think everybody thinks that the Civil War was about slavery. It was more, what's the bigger issue of it?" she explained to Fox News’ James Levinson. "You know, we went through 80 years of that, and we know that people were struggling with 'What's the role of government? What's the role of individual freedom?' And the lesson we should take away from the Civil War is, yes, never allow slavery to happen again. But what does that mean for government and the role of individual freedom?"
Charlamagne pressed Haley to explain her original comments on slavery during the interview.
"So the context of that is that I've done over 160 town halls, answering every question, shaking every hand, we don't screen anything," Haley said.
"When he asked that question, I made the mistake of thinking he was trying to ask something else," Haley said of the audience member who asked her what she believed the cause of the Civil War was. "I could tell that he was not a fan. Slavery should have been the first thing that came out of my mouth. Growing up in South Carolina, we all knew that the Civil War was about slavery."
"It was wrong," she continued. "I should've said it. I agree."
"Did you feel that stupid that night?" Charlamagne asked Haley.
"Yeah, it was one of those things because slavery's a given," she said.
Fox News' Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.
