Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has reversed her stance on the indictment of former President Donald Trump. Previously dismissing it as “vendetta politics,” Haley now criticizes her former boss as “incredibly reckless.”
Haley initially reacted to Trump’s indictment over allegedly mishandling classified documents last week, calling the charges “prosecutorial overreach.” However, the former South Carolina governor went after her former boss Monday on Fox News, and said the contents of the indictment suggest he was “incredibly reckless with our national security.”
“Two things can be true at the same time: One, the DOJ and FBI have lost all credibility with the American people, and getting rid of just senior management isn’t going to be enough to fix this, this is going to take a complete overhaul, and we have to do that. Two, the second thing can also be true, if this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” Haley told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.
“I’m a military spouse, my husband’s about to deploy this weekend,” said Haley. “This puts all of our military men and women in danger if you are going to talk about what our military is capable of or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies.”
Haley noted how this is the second indictment of the former president, and more are likely ahead, and voiced her concerns about the “direction of the country.”
“We’ve got to have someone that can win a general election, we’ve got to have someone that can right the ship on this country, and get us back in shape,” said Haley.
Haley joined several of her 2024 GOP rivals in coming to the former president’s defense following Trump’s announcement on Truth Social that he’d been indicted in the documents probe, spearheaded by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative radio personality Larry Elder argued it was an example of “partisan prosecutions” and the “weaponization” of the justice system.
“This is not how justice should be pursued in our country,” Haley said in a statement Friday. “The American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics. It’s time to move beyond the endless drama and distractions.”
Trump will appear in a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday at 3 p.m., where he faces 31 counts of alleged violation of the Espionage Act, one count of “conspiracy to obstruct justice,” one count of “withholding a document or record,” one count of “corruptly concealing a document or record,” one count of “concealing a document in a deferral investigation,” one count of “scheme to conceal” and one count of “false statements and representations.”
