Presidential candidate Nikki Haley used some of her sharpest words for Donald Trump to date on Monday, asserting that if the behavior alleged in the most recent indictment is true, “President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security.”
Appearing Monday on Fox News, Haley notably shifted her position regarding special counsel Jack Smith’s classified-documents probe and the charges that have followed, which include willful retention of national-defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements. While Haley has previously hit Trump on other issues, such as his decision to congratulate Kim Jong Un, she hasn’t gone after him on his legal troubles to this extent.
Before the indictment was unsealed, Haley wrote on Twitter that “the American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics.” Other candidates such as former Florida governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy also pointed to the weaponization of law enforcement and have not diverged from this point.
However, Haley argued Monday that two things can be true at the same time. “One, the DOJ and FBI have lost all credibility with the American people, and getting rid of just senior management isn’t going to be enough to fix this. This is going to require a complete overhaul,” Haley said.
Two, said Haley, “I’m a military spouse. My husband is about to deploy this weekend. This puts all of our military men and women in danger if you are going to talk about what our military is capable of or how we go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies.”
The indictment includes evidence — including an interview transcript — that Trump knew he had possession of “secret” and “highly confidential” documents that he had not declassified. Among other things, the documents contained information about U.S. nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies, and plans for a possible retaliation in case of a foreign attack.
The indictment alleges that on two separate occasions in 2021, when he was no longer president, Trump discussed classified military information at the Bedminster Club with individuals who were not authorized to receive it.
At the beginning of the interview, Haley qualified her comments by saying that when she was U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, she noticed that the president “never got an ounce of credit or a moment’s peace.”
“I also had to deal with Russiagate because that’s what they were swirling around all the time, and we saw that that was not a fact,” Haley said.
But for Haley, what is alleged in the indictment is damning if it is true.
“It’s reckless, and frustrating, and it causes problems,” Haley said. “Now this is the second indictment. We’re looking at a third indictment with Georgia.”
“We cannot go through Biden or Kamala Harris winning this election. We’ve got to have someone who can win the general election,” Haley said.