Donald Trump suggests Nikki Haley out of running for VP pick as insults fly

Donald Trump suggested Nikki Haley was out of the running to be his vice presidential pick, as the two traded some of their sharpest barbs yet with the New Hampshire primary just four days away.

Trump at a rally in Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday evening said Haley was “OK” when serving as his UN ambassador but did not have “presidential” material. “Now when I say that, that probably means that she’s not going to be chosen as the vice president,” he added.

“She’s not tough enough. She’s not smart enough. And she wasn’t respected enough. She cannot do this job. She’s not going to be able to deal with President Xi. She’s not going to be able to deal with Putin and Kim Jong Un,” Trump said referring to the leaders of China, Russia and North Korea.

 

Haley served as UN ambassador under Trump and the two fell out after she announced that she would run for the Republican nomination.

Haley’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She has said before that she did not have interest in being Trump’s running mate.

Trump and Haley spent Friday trading insults as their contest for the New Hampshire primary intensifies. Polls released this week show Haley still trailing Trump by double digits in a state that is shaping up as a make-or-break moment for her campaign.

Haley has focused her resources on the state and spent Friday campaigning with its governor, Chris Sununu. She assailed Trump at a campaign event earlier in the day, accusing the Republican frontrunner of “telling a whole lot of lies.”

“If he’s gonna lie about me, I’m gonna tell the truth about him,” she added.

Nikki Haley

Riding momentum from his historic victory in Iowa, Trump received another boost with the endorsement of US Senator Tim Scott, who is from Haley’s home state of South Carolina, and ended his bid for the Republican nomination last year. 

The endorsement is a direct blow to Haley, who has banked her campaign on New Hampshire and South Carolina, aiming to upset Trump in those states. Haley, as governor of South Carolina, appointed Scott to the Senate in 2012.

“We need a president who understands that the American people are sick and tired about being sick and tired,” Scott said, joining Trump at his rally. “We need a president our foreign adversaries are afraid of and our allies respect.”

Scott is now the third major candidate who previously ran for the 2024 Republican nomination to back Trump. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also joined Trump in recent days to throw their support behind him.

Scott has been seen as one of Trump’s options for vice president, along with New York Representative Elise Stefanik, who introduced the GOP frontrunner at Friday’s rally.

Trump told supporters Friday evening that New Hampshire “could end it.”

“We’ll finish it off,” he said. “And then we can focus on the worst president,” he added, looking ahead to a likely rematch with Joe Biden.