Donald Trump on Saturday shot down a report that Nikki Haley, his bitter presidential major rival, has vaulted into “energetic consideration” to turn out to be his working mate.
“Nikki Haley shouldn’t be into account for the V.P. slot, however I want her properly!” Trump wrote on Reality Social, signing the publish “DJT.”
Earlier, Trump marketing campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt scoffed at Haley’s rumored rise.
“Solely President Trump will rule a contender for Vice President in or out, and anybody claiming to know who he’ll select is mendacity,” Leavitt posted on X.
The responses got here hours after Axios reported that two unnamed “individuals acquainted with the dynamic” stated Haley joined the Trump veepstakes this week attributable to her sturdy exhibiting in Indiana’s Could 8 Republican major.
Whereas Trump gained the competition handily with 78% of the vote, Haley scored practically 22% — regardless of suspending her marketing campaign in March.
The Hoosier State’s GOP major was open to registered Democrats and independents in addition to Republicans, and advert campaigns urged such crossover voting to affect hotly contested down-ballot races.
However Haley’s efficiency in suburban areas of deep-red Indiana set off alarm bells for some GOP strategists, Politico reported.
Haley has refused to endorse Trump within the two months since she dropped out of the first after struggling punishing losses on Tremendous Tuesday.
“It’s now as much as Donald Trump to earn the votes of these in our get together and past it who didn’t assist [him],” she stated in her resignation speech. “And I hope he does that.”
For his half, Trump has made no transfer to achieve out to his former UN ambassador — who he derided as a “birdbrain” on the marketing campaign path — since she ceded the first.
“She was OK, however she was not presidential timber,” Trump stated at a January rally as he mirrored on Haley’s time in his administration.
“Now once I say that, that in all probability implies that she’s not going to be chosen because the vp,” he continued. “If you say sure issues, it kind of takes them out of play, proper?”
