WASHINGTON — Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she plans to vote for former President Donald Trump in November, despite her criticism of him during the campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
Haley made her first public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race at the Hudson Institute in Washington, where she gave a speech on national security and foreign policy.
After those comments, she responded to a moderator’s question about whether Trump or President Joe Biden would do a better job handling the issues.
“Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear many, many times,” Haley responded. “But Biden was a catastrophe. Therefore, I will vote for Trump.
“That being said, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,” Haley continued. “Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me, and not assume they will simply be with him. And I really hope he does.”
Haley continued to garner double-digit support against Trump in the Republican primaries despite dropping out of the race for the GOP nomination after Super Tuesday. Before exiting the race, she called Trump “diminished” and “troubled” and said he had changed since she first supported him for president in the 2016 general election.
Haley spoke about her return to civilian life after the campaign in March, saying she has been spending time with her family, pointing to her husband, Michael, who recently returned from a deployment to Djibouti. Haley said she suspended her campaign with “gratitude,” thanking several members of her campaign team who were in the audience.
Although Haley spent most of her speech attacking Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, calling his decision to temporarily withhold certain weapons from Israel “foolish,” she also criticized the growing isolationist views of members of her own party on Ukraine, saying some Republicans need “clarity” on the issue.
Haley also called the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “literally disgusting.” She added that she has plans to visit Israel soon, saying she wants Israelis to know that Americans support them.
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