2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she would be "inclined" to pardon former President Donald Trump if he is convicted of federal crimes but it is "premature" to make a decision at this point.
Haley said in a Tuesday interview with "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" that her actions toward pardoning Trump will be decided based on how the trial plays out.
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"We need to see exactly what happened. But when you look at a pardon, the issue is less about guilt and more about what's good for the country," Haley said.
"And I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case. That’s something you've seen in a third-world country," she continued, drawing on her experiences from serving as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump's administration.
Trump arrived at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida, for his arraignment on federal charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents on Tuesday afternoon. He is facing 37 counts for federal charges relating to obstruction and violating the Espionage Act.
The former president has denied any wrongdoing, calling the charges a culmination of a "witch hunt" against him. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday.
However, Haley said that if the indictment claims are true, "Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security, and that's not OK."
Haley is the latest presidential candidate to weigh in on the federal indictment of Trump since it was announced last week as a result of a months-long Justice Department investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith.
Candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy spoke outside the Miami courthouse on Tuesday morning ahead of Trump's arrival to call on all of the 2024 presidential candidates, both GOP and Democratic, to agree to pardon Trump should be convicted.
Ramaswamy's team sent out a letter to all candidates, including Democrats Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., asking them to sign the letter and commit to pardoning Trump, according to the letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
"I condemn these charges by the U.S. Department of Justice. Below, I have signed a commitment
to pardon President Trump promptly on January 20, 2025...I respectfully request that you join me in this commitment or else publicly explain why you will not," the letter reads.
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Candidate Asa Hutchinson said on Sunday that Ramaswamy's promise to pardon Trump was "wrong."
"It is simply wrong for a candidate to use the pardon power of the United States, of the president, in order to curry votes and in order to get an applause line," Hutchinson said. "It is just wrong. It shouldn’t happen that way. If you start down that path, it is unending."