Rep. Elise Stefanik waved off any notion that Nikki Haley would be tapped as Trump’s running mate.Stefanik said the prospect of Haley running as Trump’s No. 2 would be a “nonstarter,” calling her “disloyal.”The congresswoman has also been floated as a potential VP pick for Trump ahead of November.
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Rep. Elise Stefanik on Saturday dismissed Nikki Haley as a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump, arguing that the former UN ambassador would be a “nonstarter” as his No. 2, according to The New York Times.While campaigning for Trump ahead of next Tuesday’s New Hampshire GOP presidential primary, Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference, panned Haley’s chances as she depicted the former South Carolina governor as disloyal toward the former president.Haley served in Trump’s administration as his UN ambassador, creating a unique dynamic in the race, as she has largely sought to avoid criticizing her former boss on policy grounds while making the Republican primary a referendum on the future of the party.But according to Stefanik, a New York lawmaker who is solidly behind Trump’s presidential campaign, the former president is exactly what the GOP needs in 2024.”I’ll tell you what’s unacceptable. Nikki Haley has been disloyal to President Trump,” Stefanik said on Saturday during a stop at Trump’s Manchester campaign headquarters. “She has been disloyal to the American people. On the issues related to election integrity, Nikki Haley was stealing Democrat[ic] talking points.”Got the first question in during Stefanik gaggle and asked her about Trumps attacks on Nikki Haley’s name. (Trump used Haley’s birth name in his Truth post yesterday). pic.twitter.com/vK47NKKsvE— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) January 20, 2024
“That’s why you’re seeing so much support, and as you see this close out in New Hampshire, we are in such a strong position in support of President Trump,” he continued.NewsNation on Saturday asked Stefanik about her thoughts on Trump using Nikki Haley’s given first name, Nimarata, in recent days.Stefanik responded: “There’s a lot of back and forth going on.”At the Poor Boy’s Diner in Londonderry, The Times reported that Stefanik said Haley would be a “nonstarter” vice presidential candidate due to the former governor’s attacks against Trump during the GOP campaign.Stefanik, who has served in the House since 2015, has also been floated as a potential vice presidential pick, and she’s high on the list in Trumpworld alongside Ohio Sen. JD Vance, according to Axios.Upon taking office, Stefanik had a demeanor and a voting record that reflected the sort of center-right Republicanism long defined by the party’s legislators from the Northeast. But in recent years, Stefanik has become one of Trump’s most forceful congressional allies, and her now-viral questioning of three Ivy League presidents over antisemitism on college campuses — which led to the resignations of UPenn’s Elizabeth Magill and Harvard’s Claudine Gay — have only elevated her standing in Trump’s orbit.Earlier this month, Stefanik on NBC’s “Meet the Press” said that she wouldn’t commit to certifying the 2024 presidential election results, remarking that she’d have to wait and see whether the the outcome of the contest is “legal and valid.”In recent weeks, former Trump White House senior counselor Steve Bannon made similar comments about Haley, saying she’d cause a second Trump administration to “fail.”
