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Former President Donald J. Trump intensified his assaults towards Nikki Haley on Friday, saying that she was not of presidential caliber and that, in consequence, he was unlikely to decide on her as his operating mate.
“She just isn’t presidential timber,” Mr. Trump stated at a marketing campaign occasion in Concord, N.H. “Now, once I say that, that in all probability implies that she’s not going to be chosen because the vp.”
Mr. Trump, recognized for off-the-cuff pronouncements that veer from his ready remarks, continued by making it clear that his dismissal of Ms. Haley was not a fluke: “When you say sure issues, it form of takes them out of play, proper?”
Mr. Trump is well-known for excoriating somebody in a single breath, after which reversing himself when it turns into politically or in any other case advantageous to take action. But his stance towards Ms. Haley, whom he appointed as his ambassador to the United Nations, has hardened because the New Hampshire major approaches.
Though Mr. Trump holds a large lead over Ms. Haley in polls, she has narrowed the hole right here in current months. The Trump marketing campaign is eyeing a decisive win in New Hampshire that would severely curtail her possibilities at successful the Republican nomination.
On Friday, he once more accused her of being supported primarily by Democrats, saying that “leftists” have been spending thousands and thousands on commercials so they might “flood your airwaves with Nikki propaganda.”
He acknowledged that she had executed a “wonderful” job throughout his presidency. But he continued to insist that he had appointed her solely in order that he may elevate South Carolina’s lieutenant governor to her seat.
“All it’s good to learn about Nikki Haley is that each corrupt and sinister group we’ve been preventing for the previous seven years is on her aspect,” Mr. Trump stated.
Mr. Trump’s remarks got here as he scored a key endorsement from Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who shares a house state with Ms. Haley, and whom Ms. Haley appointed to the Senate.
Mr. Scott, whose endorsement was reported hours earlier than the occasion, got here onstage 25 minutes into Mr. Trump’s speech. He rattled off a litany of “wants” for the nation, firing up the group and main it in a spirited name and response that had the group shouting together with him: “We want Donald Trump.”
“We want a president who will shut our southern border right this moment,” Mr. Scott started. “We want Donald Trump.”
Mr. Scott, the nation’s highest-ranking elected Black Republican, concluded by saying, “We want a president who doesn’t see Black or white. We want a president who sees Americans as one American household.”
“That’s why,” Mr. Scott concluded, he had determined to endorse Mr. Trump.
Mr. Scott stays overwhelmingly in style with Republican voters, and his endorsement was sought by Ms. Haley. The former president appeared to thrill in having received it.
“You know, I’m operating towards someone from his state,” he stated as he launched Mr. Scott. “So it’s not that straightforward to do.”
The endorsement will add to hypothesis over Mr. Scott’s possibilities to function Mr. Trump’s operating mate ought to he seize the Republican nomination. Mr. Trump stated final week in Iowa that he had already settled on his alternative, although neither he nor his marketing campaign has offered particulars.
Another politician talked about as a possible operating mate, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 4 House Republican, spoke forward of Mr. Trump and was to participate in one other marketing campaign occasion in Manchester, N.H., on Saturday.
Earlier, Ms. Stefanik — who endorsed Mr. Trump in November 2022 — informed reporters that she can be honored to serve in a future Trump administration however declined to touch upon any conversations she may need had with Mr. Trump about that risk.
During her remarks, Ms. Stefanik recounted how she had grilled the presidents of three prestigious universities throughout a congressional listening to about antisemitism on faculty campuses.
Mr. Trump later praised her efficiency in that listening to. “Elise grew to become very well-known as a result of she took on the heads of M.I.T. and Penn and Harvard,” he stated, shortly earlier than inviting her to the stage. “Wasn’t it lovely?”
Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
