Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she was "showing a lot of restraint" when she called fellow Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy "scum" after he invoked her daughter's use of TikTok during the GOP debate on Wednesday.
Haley said the comments from Ramaswamy were "petty" but said there are "big differences" between her and other candidates that should be focused on in the aftermath of the debate, sharing her thoughts on Fox News's America's Newsroom.
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"This is a serious time in our country and not the time that you need to have these personal hits. My daughter is 25 years old. We’ve got big issues happening in the world. We have threats facing us — around the United States and our friends, and we have to take that seriously," Haley said. "Look, even though it was a personal shot and it was a shot that wasn’t necessary, I think the bigger point is there are big differences between me and Ramaswamy."
"He doesn’t think we should be helping Israel. He thinks that we should let Putin have Ukraine. He's fine with using Taiwan until we have all the chips we need, and then he'll give it out. You look at Ron DeSantis. He says that Ukraine is a territorial dispute. We've got real issues on that debate stage that differentiate us, and that’s what I wanted to talk about. He threw a petty shot there. It says more about him than it does about me," she added.
Haley threw the "scum" jab at Ramaswamy after he discussed how the former United Nations ambassador should "take care of your family first" because her daughter had used TikTok for a time.
When asked again about calling Ramaswamy "scum" during the debate, Haley said that she showed "restraint" but did not wish to proceed any further with commenting on her GOP primary rival.
"That was showing a lot of restraint; that’s all I’ll say. That was showing a lot of restraint," she continued.
Haley then responded to former President Donald Trump's criticisms of her during a rally he held last night in Florida, instead of participating in the debate. She reiterated that she believes the country does not want an older president such as Biden or Trump in 2024.
"I have said often I think he was the right president at the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. Yes, I said I wouldn’t run against him, but it was before we had the fall in Afghanistan, it was before we saw inflation go through the roof, and it was before we lost the midterms," Haley said of Trump. "And so look, this is what I will tell you: Three-fourths of the country, 75% of the country, said they don’t want to see a rematch between Biden and Trump."
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"The country deserves better than a president in their 80s, and Trump and Biden would give us that. It is time for a new generation of leaders. If you look at the polls, I crush Joe Biden in every single poll. That’s what Republicans need to focus on is, yes, we’ll talk about a primary, but at the end of the day, we need to have someone at the top of the ticket that wins governors' races, that wins congressional races, that allows us to really get our country back on track. And that’s what I’m trying to do," Haley said.
Trump leads the RealClearPolitics polling average in Iowa, the first GOP primary contest, with 47.3%, compared to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) at 17% and Haley at 14%.