Nikki Haley: We Shouldn't Have Listened to Trump

She changed stance after Capitol riot
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2021 9:25 AM CST
Nikki Haley: We Shouldn't Have Listened to Trump
In this Dec. 20, 2020, file photo, former South Carolina Governor and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a rally in Evans, Ga.   (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP, File)

Nikki Haley refused to criticize Donald Trump for months while he claimed the election had been stolen, but her stance shifted dramatically after the Capitol riot, according to a lengthy Politico profile published Friday. On the day after the Jan. 6 attack, Haley, who served as UN ambassador in the Trump administration for two years, told a Republican National Committee meeting in Florida that Trump had gotten his words "badly wrong." "And it wasn’t just his words," she added. "His actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history." On Jan. 12, she told Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta that she was angered and disappointed by Trump's treatment of Mike Pence after "the loyalty and friendship" the vice president had shown. "I’m disgusted by it," she said.

"We need to acknowledge he let us down," she said. "He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn't have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again." Haley told Alberta that she was "deeply disturbed" by Trump's behavior since losing the election. "Never did I think he would spiral out like this." Haley, seen as a possible 2024 White House contender, said she considers impeachment a "waste of time," but she doesn't think Trump will run for office again. "I don't think he’s going to be in the picture,” she said. "I don’t think he can. He's fallen so far." Alberta notes, however, that 13 days after the interview, Haley told Fox News that people should "give the man a break." With a likely presidential campaign launch still two years away, Haley still has time to rekindle her "warm relationship" with Trump," he writes. (More Nikki Haley stories.)

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