Former Trump rival Nikki Haley has defended her decision to support the Republican candidate after Liz Cheney questioned her principles.
Cheney, a former rising star in the Republican Party who became a leading critic of former President Trump, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris last week. She then criticized Haley on ABC on Sunday for saying she is “on hold” to campaign for the Republican nominee.
“I respect [Cheney’s] “I can't say that my decision isn't based on principle,” Haley told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. “Indeed, it is.”
“We can vote on style or we can vote on substance. I'm voting on substance. I'm reckoning with the fact that we can't live the next four years like we did the last four years. There's no contest. Harris raised taxes. Trump lowered taxes. Harris wants to stop any energy production. Trump raised taxes. Harris is weak on national security. Trump was strong on national security. Harris has allowed eight million people to sneak across the border. Trump was much tougher on the border.”
HARRIS STOPS IN A KEY STATE WHICH TRUMP ACCUSES OF HAVING DISRESPECTED THE VICE PRESIDENT AND BIDEN
Cheney told “This Week” yesterday that she can't understand the former South Carolina governor's “in any way principled” stance after a contentious Republican primary.
“The things that she [Haley] “He said he made it clear when he ran in the primary that those things are true,” Cheney said. “Casting a vote for Donald Trump or writing to someone means you've made the decision that too many elected Republicans have made, which is to abandon the Constitution.”
In response, Haley said she was “happy to be able to help” Trump's campaign to stop Harris' administration.
“This is about my family. This is about America. This is about issues. We need to be very clear. If you don't like it, say you don't like it, but you can't say his policies are worse than Kamala Harris's. That's just not a fact.”
Haley added that Trump needs to work to win support from “conservative and moderate Republicans, suburban women, independents, conservative Democrats” and predicted that this will be a “close election.”
He urged Trump and his running mate JD Vance to “focus on policies” to win over voters.
Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney joined the hosts of “The View” on Wednesday and was asked twice if she would vote for President Biden over Donald Trump. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
Minutes after Cheney endorsed Harris, Trump's campaign posted on social media an interview with Cheney on Fox News four years ago taking aim at the current vice president.
“Her voting record in the Senate is to the left of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren,” Cheney said at the time. “It's very clear: She's a radical liberal.”
Cheney was expelled from Congress in 2022 after losing her Wyoming district's primary to a Trump-backed candidate.
Cheney—who has argued that the former president is a “liar,” a “con man,” and a potential “tyrant” who, if elected again, would “burn the Constitution to the ground”—pledged after leaving Congress that “I will do everything I can to make sure that [Trump] “He will never come near the Oval Office again.”
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Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
