Trump expresses frustration about calls to deploy Haley

Former President Trump expressed frustration Friday with repeated calls for him to deploy former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) on the campaign trail ahead of Election Day, pointing to his strong GOP primary performance.

“I’ll do what I have to do,” Trump said when asked on “Fox & Friends” if he would call Haley and ask her to campaign for him.

“But let me just tell you: Nikki Haley and I fought, and I beat her by 50, 60, 90 points. I beat her in her own state. … I beat Nikki badly,” Trump said. “I beat everyone else, too — badly. Frankly I set records. Both in speed and in the magnitude of the win. Everybody keeps saying that. They don’t say get Ron [DeSantis]. And Ron did very well.

“And they keep talking about Nikki, Nikki. I like Nikki. Nikki, I don’t think, should have done what she did, and that’s fine that she did it,” Trump said, referring to Haley’s decision to run against him. “But even in her own state — in South Carolina, where she was the governor — I beat her by a number. … And then they say, ‘Oh when is Nikki coming back in?’ Nikki is in. Nikki is helping us already.”

While Haley backed Trump at the Republican National Convention in July, she has not appeared on the campaign trail alongside the former president or at events supporting him.

Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, ran the strongest primary challenge to Trump earlier this year. She had a strong showing in New Hampshire and won the District of Columbia and Vermont primaries. She continued to receive thousands of votes in primaries even after she dropped out of the race.

Trump repeatedly disparaged Haley as “bird brain” and attacked her for primarying him after she initially said she would not.

The Bulwark reported late Thursday that Trump’s team was in talks with Haley to join him on the campaign trail toward the end of the month, but that details had not been fully worked out.

Vice President Harris’s campaign has aggressively courted Haley voters and other disaffected Republicans who are skeptical of voting for Trump in November. 

Harris has rolled out endorsements from several Republicans and has appeared in battleground states with prominent GOP Trump critics including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).