Nikki Haley issued her strongest criticism yet of former President Donald Trump ahead of his anticipated arraignment Tuesday.
Trump is being charged with 37 counts ranging from willful retention of classified documents to obstruction charges in connection to the Department of Justice (DOJ)'s investigation into whether he mishandled classified documents after leaving office. Federal prosecutors are accusing him of mishandling sensitive presidential records and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. Trump, however, has maintained his innocence, accusing prosecutors of investigating him for political reasons.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as Trump's United Nations ambassador, is challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. She previously joined other Republicans in defending Trump, accusing the DOJ's investigation of being politically motivated and unfair to him.
She tweeted on Friday, "This is not how justice should be pursued in our country. The American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics. It's time to move beyond the endless drama and distractions."
By Monday, however, Haley offered harsher words for Trump during an interview on Fox News. While she continued to decry the treatment of Trump as unfair, she also said the actions described in the indictment against him would be "reckless" if true.
Haley said she believes the DOJ and FBI have "lost all credibility with the American people" and that a "complete overhaul" of the federal agencies is needed to restore trust. But she also raised concerns about the allegations in the indictment.
"If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security. More than that—I'm a military spouse; my husband is about to deploy this weekend—this puts all of our military men and women in danger if you are going to talk about what our military is capable of or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies," she said.
Haley continued: "It's reckless. It's frustrating, and it causes problems."
Another presidential candidate, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, also spoke out against Trump's alleged actions described in the indictment. He said during a campaign stop in Spartanburg that the indictment is a "serious case with serious allegations," The Post and Courier reported.
Meena Bose, the executive dean of Hofstra University's Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, told Newsweek it is not surprising that candidates are changing their initial reactions from when the indictment was announced Thursday.
"I think what we're seeing here from candidates such as Ambassador Haley and Senator Scott is trying to balance support from Republican primary voters, particularly supporters of former President Trump who are likely to come out in high numbers, with looking ahead to the 2024 general election and reaching out to Republicans who don't support former President Trump, or at the very least have concerns about these multiple indictments," she said. "And then also reaching out to independent voters."
Bose said the reactions reflect the "clear desire" among Republican presidential candidates to differentiate themselves from Trump and that making a muted criticism against him is not risky at this point, several months before a single vote is cast in the primary.
"As there's some time to look at the scale, number of charges, and reasons, you start to see perhaps a more informed or fuller response to the indictment," she said.
Most Republican presidential candidates, with some exceptions, have largely steered clear of directly criticizing Trump, who remains popular with GOP voters and is the frontrunner to win the nomination. Instead, Haley has touted the need for new leadership in the Republican Party.
She has broken from Trump over some issues, such as the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump has said, if reelected, he would try to broker an end to the war. Haley has disagreed, saying during a CNN town hall that it is "in the best interest of our national security for Ukraine to win."
