MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley dismissed former President Donald Trump‘s increasingly personal attacks against her during a CNN town hall Thursday night.
Moderator Jake Tapper questioned Haley about Trump’s questioning her presidential eligibility as the daughter of Indian immigrants and calling Haley by her legal first name, Nimarata.
Haley remained unperturbed in her response, choosing to take the high road.
“The name-calling? I know Trump well. That’s what he does when he feels threatened. That’s what he does when he feels insecure,” Haley claimed Thursday night. “I don’t take these things personally. It doesn’t bother me.”
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The town hall comes five days before the New Hampshire primary. Trump has scheduled at least five events this week to drain attention and support from Haley in their battle for Granite State voters.
The former South Carolina governor is the most serious challenger Trump faces in the primary after his commanding victory during Monday night’s Iowa caucuses. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has largely forsaken New Hampshire to campaign in South Carolina, while former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie exited the race last week but chose not to endorse Haley. Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race after a disappointing finish in Iowa and has endorsed Trump.
Haley welcomed Trump as a challenger during the town hall.
“I know that I am a threat. I know that’s why he’s doing that,” Haley said. “It’s not going to waste any energy from me. I’m going to continue to focus on the things people want to talk about and not get into the name-calling back with him.”
Haley is under immense pressure to either win New Hampshire or come in an extremely close second-place finish.
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Should Trump win, several Republican strategists have predicted the GOP primary would be effectively over. But Haley signaled that a second-place finish could still be a win for her campaign.
“What I want to do is be strong. We’re not going to know what strong looks like until those numbers come in,” Haley said. “We want to do better than we did in Iowa. That’s my personal goal: to make sure we do better than we did in Iowa.”
