'This is not personal': Nikki Haley tells 'Fox & Friends' hosts she is better suited to defeat Joe Biden than Donald Trump
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley joined hosts Ainsley Earhardt and Steve Doocy on 'Fox & Friends' while polling was underway on Super Tuesday, March 5, 2024.
As 15 states and one territory held the GOP primary contest, Haley restated her stance on being the best bet of the party to beat incumbent Joe Biden.
Haley's only opponent and GOP frontrunner Former president Donald Trump had joined the show earlier to rebuke her for making such claims. Trump said, "It's a lie. She knows it's a lie," and "There's no path for Nikki." He further called upon the party to unify in his support to take on Biden in November.
Nikki Haley's response to Donald Trump
Nikki Haley hit back at the former president by saying, "He needs to remember I campaigned for a lot of governors and a lot of House and Senate members, and after we lost all of those elections, that's when we decided to jump in because we lost in 2018. We lost in 2020. We lost in 2022."
"I was just in Michigan, and since Donald Trump became president in 2016, they lost the governor's mansion. They lost the State House. They lost the state Senate," she continued.
"Same thing in Minnesota. I went to Colorado. No Republican has won more than 45% statewide since Donald Trump became president. I went to Virginia, the exact same thing. Glenn Youngkin was able to win, but that's because he ran it on his own and kept Donald Trump at arm's length," Haley said.
"This is not personal. This is about the fact that we have to win. We can want to change the country all day long. But if we can't win an election, we can't do any of that," she continued.
Would Nikki Haley support the eventual Republican nominee?
When Earhardt pressed Haley about her earlier pledge, she told the co-host, "That's not a decision I have to make today. The convention isn't until July. We've got 16 states voting today, and so we want those 16 states to vote."
"I haven't heard (Trump) pledge to me that he would support me if I won. So, I don't know why I have to go and pledge to him that I would support him if I won," she stated, before adding, "I get to do what I want to do, Ainsley. If he refused to sign the pledge, I don't have to go forward, but I'll make that decision on my own."
