Nikki Haley: If I Were President and Trump Was Convicted in Federal Court, I'd Pardon Him
Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is still campaigning hard for the GOP presidential nomination as we head toward the SC Republican primary on Saturday. She’s had a few complications with her Twitter account though:
On Sunday night, she appeared on Fox News for a town hall and declared that if she were president and Trump was convicted in one of the many cases currently against him, she would pardon the former commander-in-chief.
An audience member asked, “Governor Haley if you were elected president, would you pardon Trump if he was convicted of a crime in federal court?” She didn’t dodge the question, instead answering flat-out in the affirmative:
“If you’re talking about pardoning Trump, it’s not a matter of innocence or guilt at that point, because that means he would have already been found guilty,” Haley said at the town hall, hosted by John Roberts. “I believe, in the best interest of bringing the country together, I would pardon Donald Trump. Because I think it’s important for the country to move on.”
Watch:
Haley continued, saying that it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the country to lock up an elderly man and further inflame political passions in the nation.
We’ve got to leave the negativity and the baggage behind.
I don’t want this country divided any further. I don’t think it’s in the best interests for America to have an 80-year-old president sitting in jail and having everybody upset about it. I think this would be the time that we would need to move forward and get this out of the way.
Trump’s legal woes are numerous, as Democrats have taken to politicizing and weaponizing lawfare in their attempts to do anything to keep him from retaking the Oval Office.
Trump currently faces four criminal indictments, including two on the federal level brought by special counsel Jack Smith — one related to his alleged efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election and another for allegedly willfully retaining national security information and obstructing efforts by the federal government to retrieve the document.
All the cases against Trump don't seem to have negatively affected his support; in fact, his numbers are higher than before the indictments started flying in.
Despite his legal challenges, Trump remains the party’s front-runner; in the latest national polling average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Trump led Haley by 62.9 percentage points, 79.1 percent to Haley’s 16.2 percent.
Haley’s comments come one week before the South Carolina GOP primary, slated to be held Saturday. Trump’s lead in South Carolina is narrower than his national lead, according to the primary polling average. He leads by 31.8 percentage points, 64.3 percent to Haley’s 32.5 percent.
If Haley were somehow to defeat the odds, though, she might just get a call from Donald Trump asking for a little favor.
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