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Haley woos independents in final New Hampshire push against Trump

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Haley woos independents in final New Hampshire push against Trump
© Reuters. Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley greets voters as she takes the stage at a Get Out the Vote campaign rally ahead of the New Hampshire primary election in Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S., January 20

By Gram Slattery and James Oliphant

PORTSMOUTH/KEENE, New Hampshire (Reuters) – Tom Mita, a 45-year-old non-profit worker in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is not registered with a political party. That makes him the perfect target for Nikki Haley, who needs independent voters for a chance to prevail in this pivotal primary state.

Mita is thinking about voting for Haley, he told a pair of door knockers who were canvassing on behalf of the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations outside his suburban home on Saturday, but he isn’t completely sold on her candidacy.

He wants Haley, who has so far spared Donald Trump from some lines of attack, to go after him more aggressively. He considers Trump a threat to democracy for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden. If Haley pulls her punches, he may vote in the Democratic primary instead.

“It’s really about stopping Trump,” said Mita, standing outside his door, hands stuffed in his pockets, on a 19-degree Fahrenheit day. “Best scenario would be if she comes out and says that she won’t endorse Trump for president.”

Voters like Mita, who are unaffiliated with either major party, will be crucial to Haley if she is to pull off an upset and beat Trump in New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Tuesday. She likely needs a victory here or a very close second to survive, following her third place finish behind Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week in Iowa.

Voters untied to either party are the state’s most important bloc. They account for 343,000 of all registered voters, eclipsing both the number of registered Republicans and Democrats, according to data from the secretary of state.

Unaffiliated voters are allowed to participate in the primary of their choice. About 30% are effectively Republicans, 35% align with Democrats, and 35% are truly independent, estimates Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and a political science professor.

Given Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican base, Haley will need to secure the support of 70% to 75% of unaffiliated voters in order to win the state, he said.

“That’s never happened before,” said Smith. “That’s a really tall order.”

While Haley has closed the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, the former president retains a comfortable lead of 14 percentage points according to an average of polls compiled by website FiveThirtyEight.

SUPER PAC BOOST

Trump has in recent days sought to portray Haley’s gains in state polls as improper because they reflect growing support among independents. He has also falsely claimed registered Democrats would be allowed to vote in the Republican primary.

Chris Ager, chair of the state Republican party, noted that Trump himself benefited from the backing of independent voters when he won New Hampshire in 2016, reviving his campaign after a loss in Iowa. Ager thinks Trump will win but gives Haley an outside shot.

“Nikki Haley could win New Hampshire,” he told a media roundtable hosted by Bloomberg in Manchester on Saturday. “The undecideds can break very late.”

Haley’s bid could be boosted by a super PAC formed to persuade right-leaning independents in New Hampshire to support her. The group, Independents Moving the Needle, has been airing a number of supportive ads on local television.

One of the committee’s founders, Jonathan Bush, told Reuters the group is trying to appeal to “rational Americans” who want to move on from Trump and Biden.

“We’re excited at the traction,” said Bush, a cousin of former President George W. Bush who helped launch the effort after seeing Haley speak in person. Bush e-mailed his contact list and set up an online fundraiser for Haley that netted more than $1 million, he said.

Independent voters, Bush said, are the fastest way for Haley to “get in the ring” against Trump and make it a two-candidate race.

At campaign stops on Saturday, Haley spoke of her appeal to a wide swath of voters, referring to a new Marist College poll that showed her beating Biden in New Hampshire by three percentage points while Trump would lose by seven points.

Angelika Fretzen, 54, an independent voter from Peterborough, New Hampshire, was sold on the pitch. “She’s a great alternative to Donald Trump,” Fretzen said after attending a rally on Saturday. “I think it’s time for a new generation, and I think a lot of independents of my age group feel that way.”

Carrying out the door knocking was Americans for Prosperity Action, a super PAC mainly funded by billionaire Charles Koch. Of the eight interactions with voters observed by Reuters on Saturday, the canvassers engaged with four Republicans, three independents and one person who did not disclose his affiliation.

Mita and another independent said they were leaning toward Haley while the third plans to vote for Trump. The Republicans were split between Trump and Haley, two to two.

One Republican, Chris Jay, gave a reason for considering Haley that meshed with Mita’s rationale. Jay, a 57-year-old lumber broker, said he wanted Haley to go after Trump more.

“I think Trump needs to be put in his place a little bit,” he said.

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Palantir, Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts, FT reports

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(Reuters) – Data analytics firm Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:) and defense tech company Anduril Industries are in talks with about a dozen competitors to form a consortium that will jointly bid for U.S. government work, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The consortium, which could announce agreements with other tech groups as early as January, is expected to include SpaceX, OpenAI, autonomous shipbuilder Saronic and artificial intelligence data group Scale AI, the newspaper said, citing several people with knowledge of the matter.

“We are working together to provide a new generation of defence contractors,” a person involved in developing the group told the newspaper.

The consortium will bring together the heft of some of Silicon Valley’s most valuable companies and will leverage their products to provide a more efficient way of supplying the U.S. government with cutting-edge defence and weapons capabilities, the newspaper added.

Palantir, Anduril, OpenAI, Scale AI and Saronic did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. SpaceX could not be immediately reached for a comment.

Reuters reported earlier this month that President-elect Donald Trump’s planned U.S. government efficiency drive involving Elon Musk could lead to more joint projects between big defense contractors and smaller tech firms in areas such as artificial intelligence, drones and uncrewed submarines.

Musk, who was named as a co-leader of a government efficiency initiative in the incoming government, has indicated that Pentagon spending and priorities will be a target of the efficiency push, spreading anxiety at defense heavyweights such as Boeing (NYSE:) , Northrop Grumman (NYSE:) , Lockheed Martin (NYSE:) and General Dynamics (NYSE:) .

Musk and many small defense tech firms have been aligned in criticizing legacy defense programs like Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet while calling for mass production of cheaper AI-powered drones, missiles and submarines.

Such views have given major defense contractors more incentive to partner with emerging defense technology players in these areas.

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Weakened Iran could pursue nuclear weapon, White House’s Sullivan says

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By Simon Lewis (JO:)

(Reuters) -The Biden administration is concerned that a weakened Iran could build a nuclear weapon, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, adding that he was briefing President-elect Donald Trump’s team on the risk.

Iran has suffered setbacks to its regional influence after Israel’s assaults on its allies, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, followed by the fall of Iran-aligned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN.

“It’s no wonder there are voices (in Iran) saying, ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now … Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine’,” Sullivan said.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since Trump, in his 2017-2021 presidential term, pulled out of a deal between Tehran and world powers that put restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.

Sullivan said that there was a risk that Iran might abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.

“It’s a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It’s a risk that I’m personally briefing the incoming team on,” Sullivan said, adding that he had also consulted with U.S. ally Israel.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could return to his hardline Iran policy by stepping up sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

Sullivan said Trump would have an opportunity to pursue diplomacy with Tehran, given Iran’s “weakened state.”

“Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions for the long term,” he said.

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Ukraine says Russian general deliberately targeted Reuters staff in August missile strike

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(Reuters) -Ukraine’s security service has named a Russian general it suspects of ordering a missile strike on a hotel in eastern Ukraine in August and said he acted “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of” Reuters.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement on Friday that Colonel General Alexei Kim, a deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, approved the strike that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and wounded two of the agency’s journalists on Aug. 24.

In a statement posted on Telegram messenger the SBU said it was notifying Kim in absentia that he was an official suspect in its investigation into the strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a step in Ukrainian criminal proceedings that can later lead to charges.

In a separate, 15-page notice of suspicion, in which the SBU set out findings from its investigation, the agency said that the decision to fire the missile was made “with the motive of deliberately killing employees of the international news agency Reuters who were engaged in journalistic activities in Ukraine”.

The document, which was published on the website of the General Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, said that Kim had received intelligence that Reuters staff were staying in Kramatorsk. It added that Kim would have been “fully aware that the individuals were civilians and not participating in the armed conflict”.

The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the SBU’s findings and has not replied to previous questions about the attack. The Kremlin also did not respond to a request for comment. Kim did not reply to messages sent by Reuters to his mobile telephone seeking comment about the SBU’s statement and whether the strike deliberately targeted Reuters staff.

The SBU did not provide evidence to support its claims, nor say why Russia targeted Reuters. In response to questions from the news agency, the security agency declined to provide further details, saying its criminal investigation was still under way and it was therefore not able to disclose such information.

Reuters has not independently confirmed any of the SBU’s claims.

Reuters said on Friday: “We note the news today from the Ukrainian security services regarding the missile attack on August 24, 2024, on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, a civilian target more than 20 km from Russian-occupied territory.”

“The strike had devastating consequences, killing our safety adviser, Ryan Evans, and injuring members of our editorial team. We continue to seek more information about the attack. It is critically important for journalists to be able to report freely and safely,” the statement said.

Reuters declined to comment further on the allegation that its staff were deliberately targeted.

The SBU statement said Kim had been named a suspect under two articles of the Ukrainian criminal code: waging an aggressive war and violating the laws and customs of war.

“It was Kim who signed the directive and gave the combat order to fire on the hotel, where only civilians were staying,” it said.

Evans, a 38-year-old former British soldier who had worked as a safety adviser for Reuters since 2022, was killed instantly in the strike.

The SBU statement gave some details about how the strike had occurred, according to its investigation.

“To carry out the attack, the Russian colonel general involved one of his subordinate missile forces units,” the Ukrainian agency said, adding that the strike was carried out with an Iskander-M ballistic missile.

The SBU did not identify the specific unit.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans holds a cat during a news assignment, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, during intense shelling in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, December 26, 2022. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, a videographer for the news agency who was in a room across the corridor, was seriously wounded. Kyiv-based text correspondent Dan Peleschuk was also injured.

The remaining three members of the Reuters team escaped with minor cuts and scratches.

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