Van Jones knocks 'painful' Haley 'I had Black friends growing up' remark

CNN analyst Van Jones called Nikki Haley's attempt this week to explain previous comments she made on the Civil War "painful" to listen to.

Asked about her recent failure to cite slavery as a cause of the Civil War, Haley said during a CNN town hall Thursday she "should have said slavery" when asked about the cause of the conflict by a voter, adding: "If you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade you learn about slavery."

"You grow up, and you have ... I had Black friends growing up, it is a very talked about things," the Republican presidential candidate said.

Jones, a former Obama administration official, said during the network's post-town hall coverage that Haley's attempt to explain herself amounted to "cleaning it up with a dirty rag."

"I think it says something about the Republican base that she is so afraid that there’s some big number of people that can’t hear that, that she’s got to tiptoe through every tulip she can find and wrap herself around the axle avoiding saying stuff that’s true," Jones said. "I found it painful. I mean, not personally painful, but it’s awkward to watch a grown woman not be able to say what any kindergarten teacher could say, any third grade teacher could say, because there’s either something off about her or about this party that will not be able to speak the truth."

Jones' comments were first highlighted by Mediaite.

CNN's town hall with Haley was just days before the Iowa caucuses and the fifth GOP primary debate, which will air on the network next week. She and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) both trail the race's front-runner, former President Trump, by double digits in most polls.

Trump is skipping next week's debate, opting to instead sit for a town hall event of his own that will air the same evening on Fox News.