Nikki Haley Dips Toe Into Criticizing Trump Over Indictment
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Given Nikki Haley’s abysmal polling numbers and lackluster fundraising, it’s high time the 2024 Republican presidential candidate switched up her messaging strategy, and Donald Trump’s indictment by the Justice Department is looking like too good of an opportunity for the former South Carolina governor to pass up.
On Monday, Haley tested the waters of taking a harsher stance against the former president. During an interview with Fox News, Haley called Trump’s handling of classified documents following his departure from office “incredibly reckless.”
“This puts all of our military men and women in danger,” Haley said. “If you are gonna talk about what our military is capable of or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies. And if that’s the case: it’s reckless, it’s frustrating, and it causes problems.”
In a shift in tone, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley goes after Trump over his indictment:
“If this indictment is true … President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security … This puts all of our military men and women in danger.” pic.twitter.com/g2U1Aj4yxe— The Recount (@therecount) June 12, 2023
Haley noted that this is the second criminal indictment brought against Trump, the first being charges related to the former president’s 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. At the time that the charges were brought against the former president, Haley accused New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg of conducting a “political persecution” that was “more about revenge than it is about justice.”
Haley’s comments in May were par for the course in terms of her treatment of Trump. Despite running against him, the former governor spent several months carrying water for Trump in the face of his many legal predicaments, even declining to criticize him when he was found liable for sexual battery last month.
As news of Trump’s indictment by the DOJ broke last week, Haley refused to level explicit criticism against Trump. On Friday, Haley tweeted that “this is not how justice should be pursued in our country,” and accused the DOJ of “prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics.”
“It’s time to move beyond the endless drama and distractions,” she added.
This is not how justice should be pursued in our country.
The American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics.
It’s time to move beyond the endless drama and distractions.— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) June 9, 2023
Whereas Haley is just tapping into her willingness to do battle with the GOP frontrunner, one of her fellow candidates has made his disinterest in defending Trump plain. Last week, former Arkansas Governor and Republican 2024 candidate Asa Hutchinson called for the former president to drop out of the race in light of the charges against him. On Monday, Hutchinson told Fox News that he “doesn’t think the Republican party should be undermining our system of justice.”
Asa Hutchinson on Trump's federal indictment: "I treat those allegations seriously…I don't think the Republican Party should be undermining our system of justice, undermining the jury system, and the seriousness of protecting the secrets of the United States." pic.twitter.com/H40eAA4DKo
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 12, 2023
“I expect the candidates to address this honestly and seriously, and with due respect for our institutions of justice,” he added.
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