Former President Trump ramped up his attacks on 2024 rival former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at an Iowa rally on Friday, as Haley has risen in the polls.
“Nikki Haley’s campaign is being funded by Biden donors,” Trump told Iowa voters gathered in Sioux Center. He called Haley, who served in his administration as U.N. ambassador, a “globalist.”
“She likes the globe. I like America first,” Trump said. “The establishment losers and sellouts lagging far behind us in the Republican primary can’t be trusted on taxes or trade or anything else. They’re globalists, and they always will be.”
Trump has set his sights on Haley as several polls have shown her gaining enough support to rise to second place, surpassing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Though Trump maintains a commanding lead in surveys of Republican primary voters, his campaign unveiled a new attack ad targeting Haley in New Hampshire this week that sought to connect her positions with those of President Biden, a Democrat.
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Former US President and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a “Commit to Caucus” rally at the North Iowa Events Center in Mason City, Iowa, on January 5, 2024. (CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
Haley has enjoyed momentum in the Granite State, winning the endorsement of popular New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu last month, who has joined her on the campaign trail since backing her.
She is also supported by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Action, the political arm of an influential and deep-pocketed conservative public advocacy group with strong grassroots outreach.
But Haley has also made unforced errors — fumbling a voter’s question about the cause of the Civil War and telling New Hampshire voters they will “correct” the Iowa caucus results — which have allowed her rivals to pounce.
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Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, right, and Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire, during a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, US, on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. (Kathryn Gamble/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Haley spent days cleaning up her comments about the Civil War, clarifying that she believes slavery was the cause, while her GOP opponents hit her messaging and Democrats raised concerns of racism.
Haley “does not have what it takes,” Trump said at the rally.
Haley campaign spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik pushed back on Trump in a statement to The New York Times.
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An attendee holds up a campaign sign as former US President and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a “Commit to Caucus” rally at the North Iowa Events Center in Mason City, Iowa, on January 5, 2024. (CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP via Getty Images)
“If Trump feels so strongly about his false attacks, he should stop hiding and defend them on the debate stage in Des Moines,” Soloveichik said.
She added that Trump “probably doesn’t remember that Nikki Haley passed one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration laws in the country in 2011, because he was still a New York City liberal.”
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Content with is commanding lead in the polls, Trump has declined to participate in Republican primary debates and denigrated his challengers as “establishment pawns” who would “sell” voters “out.”
“They’ll betray you just like they betrayed me,” Trump said.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.