During a Fox News-hosted town hall on Tuesday night, former President Donald Trump put an end to rumors that he was considering former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as a potential running mate.
Moderator Laura Ingraham asked the former president why Haley is staying in the race after losing Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, while also trailing by a wide margin in her home state.
“I don’t think she knows how to get out,” Trump said of his former UN ambassador. “I really don’t. She did terribly in New Hampshire — the only votes she got were from Democrats.
Ingraham then pointed out that Haley has raised tens of millions of dollars from high-profile donors despite a lack of electoral success. “Well, they’re trying to hurt me because of the general election. So the Democrats are giving her money and she’s playing into the game,” Trump said.
“I think she just can’t get herself to get out. She’s doing poorly in the polls,” he continued, adding that he could understand her insistence on staying in if she was doing well. “But she’s doing very poorly. She lost in record numbers in Iowa, record numbers in New Hampshire.”
The former president also noted that Haley lost to “none of the above” in Nevada. “No name beat [her], we had no name,” the former president continued, drawing laughs from the South Carolina crowd.
Ingraham went on to ask about the possibility of a potential Trump-Haley ticket in November. Trump has previously given mixed signals on the prospect, on one hand saying that he would consider another 2024 Republican contender for the vice-presidential slot.
Fox News first played a clip from Haley’s most recent Greenville rally, where she noted that “some people used to say I was running because I wanted to be Vice President.” After a brief pause, the former governor stated that she has very well settled the question.
“Has she settled that question?” Ingraham asked Trump. “Well, I settled it about three months ago,” the former president immediately answered, causing the crowd to erupt with laughter and applause.
“She’s not working. She’s here, she’s down by 30, 35 points. And everybody knows you’re not supposed to lose your home state,” Trump continued. “She’s losing it bigly, big.”
