Exclusive: Haley offers no apologies for what she said about Trump during primary and defends choice to back him over Harris

(CNN) — Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered no apologies Thursday for the “tough things” she said about Donald Trump during their bruising Republican primary fight, but she told CNN’s Jake Tapper she does not doubt her choice to support the former president over presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November election.

In her first interview since endorsing Trump and speaking at the Republican National Convention, Haley said President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race Sunday did not come as a surprise.

“I wasn’t surprised, and I didn’t take happiness in it,” Haley said of Biden’s announcement. “I think through the whole campaign, I fought for mental competency tests. I wasn’t doing it to be disrespectful. I wasn’t doing it to be mean. I was doing it because I think it’s not just Joe Biden. There is an issue we have in DC, where people will go into office and they won’t let go. And then their staffers and their family keep propping them up, and it’s a problem for the American people.”

Haley added: “I never thought he would make it to the election. I always said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris, and I think that’s what’s playing out.”

But Haley – who said during the campaign that the first party “to retire its 80-year-old candidate” would win the election – argued that Democrats’ decision to elevate Harris gave them “the weakest candidate they could put in.”

“She is much more progressive than Joe Biden ever was,” Haley said. “So, the fact they put in Kamala Harris – kudos for putting in someone younger – the fact that you put in one of the most liberal politicians you probably could have put in, it’s going to be an issue.”

Haley criticized those Republicans who have gone after Harris as a “DEI” candidate, arguing there are better ways to attack the vice president such as on immigration, fracking and foreign policy.

“It’s not helpful,” Haley said. “There’s so many issues we can talk about when it comes to Kamala Harris that it doesn’t matter what she looks like. It matters what she’s said, what she’s fought for, and the lack of results that she’s had because of it.”

Haley’s comments come in the wake of her decision to endorse Trump and speak at the GOP convention last week following a tumultuous primary, during which she repeatedly attacked the former president as “toxic,” “unhinged” and lacking “moral clarity.” In a wide-ranging interview, Haley brushed aside the rhetoric as just part of a campaign – which included Trump’s attacks on Haley and her husband while he was deployed overseas.

“I said a lot of tough things about him in the campaign. He said a lot of tough things about me in the campaign. That’s what happens in campaigns. I don’t think we need to apologize or take anything back. I don’t plan on doing that,” Haley said.

In May, Haley said she would vote for Trump, sparking backlash from some anti-Trump Republicans who had supported her campaign. Even after she suspended her campaign in March, Haley continued to get a significant share of the vote in subsequent primaries.

Her supporters, Haley argued, “wanted Americans to have a choice for someone they could be proud of.”

“That was what we fought for, that was what we did, and millions joined us,” Haley said. “I wanted what they wanted. We were in it together, and I loved the fight we had together. But we’ve been given a choice. It’s Trump, or it’s Harris. And so, what I did, was I said this is who I would be voting for. I also said I don’t agree with Trump 100% of time, and I don’t expect them to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him. But I wanted them to think about it through my eyes and how I thought about it.”

Asked by Tapper about her previous comments that she didn’t know whether Trump would follow the Constitution if reelected, Haley said: “I hope he does. I hope that any president would follow the Constitution.”

“So, yes, I hope that everything he does is in line with the Constitution, and I hope that Congress enforces that, and I hope that everybody he surrounds himself with enforces that. But I think the American people need to demand it,” she added.

In her interview with Tapper, Haley, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, continued to advocate a strong foreign policy, a stance that has put her at odds with the isolationist wing of her party, including Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Haley urged both Trump and Vance to stand up to Russia on Ukraine.

“I think there’s a division in the Republican Party on where we should be on foreign policy, especially, you know, we’ve seen that play out with Ukraine,” she said. “What I will tell you is when Russia gets a little bit, they want a little bit more and a little bit more. And so that should send a warning sign to Trump and to Vance to go and show, ‘No, we’re going to stand for America, we’re not going to stand for Russia, and we’re going to stand with Ukraine because that’s the right thing to do.’ I hope they do that.”

But Haley also defended Trump’s record on Russia during his first term.

“I know that Trump kept dictators at bay, and that’s what I hope he will continue to do,” she said. “This is about moral clarity. Standing with Ukraine, standing with Taiwan, standing with Israel, that’s moral clarity. That’s what I want President Trump to have. I will always be vocal about that.”

Haley criticized both Harris and Vance for not attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address before Congress on Wednesday. Both were away at other events – Harris is meeting with Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday while Trump is meeting the Israeli leader at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.

“First of all, she was official, she should have been there,” Haley said of Harris, who serves as president of the Senate in her official capacity. “Israel is one of our strongest allies. What does that say to the people of Israel? More importantly, what did you just tell the Iranians? Because they love what they’re getting right now if she won’t even do her official job there.”

“Should JD Vance have been there? Yes, of course,” she added. “We need to show a united front when it comes to Israel.”

Haley brushed off criticism of her Republican convention speech from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump critic and onetime GOP presidential rival, who said she backed Trump only so she could run for president again and was “unified by her own tortured ambition”

“I think it’s funny coming from a guy who didn’t even play in Iowa and couldn’t even get out of New Hampshire,” Haley said of Christie. “I think he’s bitter to anybody that he’s ever dealt with, and I think it’s comical that it’s coming from a person who, in 2016, literally did that one thing – fell all over himself for Trump – to get a position in an administration, and he still didn’t get it.”

“So, look, I wish Chris well,” Haley said. “I think he’s got a lot of tortured demons inside of him. But I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. And everything he said could not be more wrong.”

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