Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley paused when asked whether she believed former President Donald Trump would abide by the Constitution if he wins the 2024 Republican primary and the general election.
“I don’t know,” Haley told NBC Sunday. “You always want to think someone will, but I don’t know.”
Haley underscored Trump’s message of “revenge” and “vindication” as their primary campaigns prepare for Super Tuesday, when Republicans in 16 states and territories will vote for their preferred nominee.
“I don’t know what that means, and only he can answer for that,” she said. “What I can answer for is, I don’t think there should ever be a president that’s above the law. I don’t think that there should ever be a president that has total immunity to do whatever they want to do. I think that we need to have someone that our kids can look up to, that they can be proud of. And I think we need to have a country of law and order, a country of freedom, and a country that goes back to respecting the value of a taxpayer dollar, and we don’t have any of that right now.”
Haley’s criticism of Trump has increased as the primary process has progressed, particularly after the New Hampshire contest, speaking more regularly with mainstream news outlets and even making appearances on liberal TV and radio shows, such as Saturday Night Live and the Breakfast Club. But despite some of her liberal support and donors, she has tried to temper her criticism to not put off too many members of Trump’s base. For example, her answer to questions regarding Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I have said it was a terrible day. It is not a beautiful day,” Haley said Sunday about Jan. 6. “But I look at the fact that you had a lot of Americans going out there doing what we’re blessed in this country to do: freedom of speech, freedom to say what they want to say.”
“What went terribly wrong is the fact that we saw complete lawlessness going into the Capitol,” she added. “What Trump’s role is is not that he had the rally in the first place. That’s what we do in America. The problem is when he had the opportunity to stop it, you know, you have everybody from Fox News anchors, to friends, to family begging him to say something to get them to stop, including his vice president. And he was silent.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Haley did not directly answer other questions Sunday concerning the prospects of her campaign after Super Tuesday and whether she would continue her bid until the Republican National Convention this summer in Milwaukee.
“If the people want to see me go forward, they’ll show it,” she said. “They’ll show it in their votes. They’ll show it in their donations. They’ll show it in the fact that they want us to continue to go forward. This is about really trying to get everyone to realize that this primary isn’t between Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. Yes, on the ballot, that’s what you see. This primary is, ‘What is the direction of the Republican Party?’”
