Former President Trump, in his New Hampshire victory speech Tuesday, used the opportunity to poke at GOP primary rival Nikki Haley after Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) didn’t give her his endorsement.
“Did you ever think [about how] she actually appointed you, Tim? … And you’re the senator of her state,” Trump said to Scott, referring to Haley, the former governor of the Palmetto State.
“You must really hate her,” he added.
The South Carolina senator, who suspended his own presidential bid in November, gave his backing to Trump over the weekend, drawing criticism from Haley’s closest allies.
Scott, who stood behind the former president Tuesday with a big smile, stepped up to the podium and replied, “I just love you.”
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The former president, who continues to lead the polls, also mocked Haley for her post-primary speech in which she said the race wasn’t over yet — after the Granite State was called in Trump’s favor. He claimed she had a “very bad night” and added later that he couldn’t let her “get away with bullshit.”
Trump urged her in a post-primary interview with Fox News Digital to suspend her campaign.
“Otherwise, we have to keep wasting money instead of spending on Biden,” he said.
The Haley campaign hit back, arguing that his margins in both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary are “not exactly a ringing endorsement for a former president demanding a coronation.”
In her remarks, Haley said that while the Tuesday election may have been the first-in-the-nation primary, “it is not the last in the nation.”
“This race is far from over,” she said.
The Hill/Decision Desk HQ called the GOP race for Trump just after polls in New Hampshire closed at 8 p.m. local time. The former president earned 54.6 percent support, with more than 170,000 votes to his name as of Wednesday morning, while Haley trailed behind with 43.4 percent.
Trump continues to lead comfortably over Haley in South Carolina, where the next major primary contest will take place Feb. 24. Polling aggregates from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows Trump ahead by more than 30 percentage points in the state.