WASHINGTON — Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she’s planning to vote for former President Donald Trump in November, despite her criticism of him during the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
Haley made her first public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race with a speech on national security and foreign policy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
After the remarks, she took a question from a moderator on whether Trump or President Joe Biden would do a better job handling the issues.
“Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear many, many times,” Haley replied. “But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.
“Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,” Haley continued. “Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they’re just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that.”
Haley has continued to pull double-digit support against Trump in Republican primaries, despite dropping out of the race for the GOP nomination after Super Tuesday. Before exiting the race, she called Trump “diminished” and “unhinged” and said he had changed since she first backed him for the presidency in the 2016 general election.
The Biden campaign, which has courted Haley supporters, released a statement Wednesday saying Haley’s announcement that she’ll vote for Trump does not change anything for the “millions of Republican voters who continue to cast their ballots against Donald Trump in the primaries,” adding that Biden is the only candidate who cares “deeply about the future of our democracy.”
Earlier this month, Trump ruled out Haley as a potential running mate after months of personal attacks between the two. Trump, who frequently took to Truth Social to call Haley “birdbrain,” openly called her campaign an “embarrassment” leading up to Super Tuesday. Trump had also gone after Haley’s husband, frequently asking about his whereabouts on the campaign trail during his military deployment.
Haley on Wednesday talked about her return to civilian life coming off the campaign trail in March, saying she’s been spending time with family, pointing to her husband, Michael, who recently returned from deployment in Djibouti. Haley said she suspended her campaign with “gratitude,” acknowledging several members of her campaign staff who were in the audience.
Many of Haley’s former primary opponents have endorsed Trump, including businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has made frequent appearances with Trump in recent weeks. Other opponents-turned-endorsers include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Onetime opponents who have not endorsed Trump include former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
While Haley spent most of her speech Wednesday attacking Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, calling his decision to temporarily withhold certain weapons from Israel “foolish,” she also criticized the growing isolationist views of members of her own party regarding Ukraine, saying some Republicans need “clarity” on the issue.
Haley also called the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “literally disgusting.” She added that she has plans to visit Israel soon, saying she wants Israelis to know Americans support them.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
