Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley was repeatedly asked if she would “rule out” being a vice presidential pick during an interview this week, a question posed as she has come under criticism from fellow Republican presidential candidates over the issue in recent days. In response, she repeated her assertion that she does not “play for second” but did not categorically rule out the possibility as two other Republican candidates have.
Haley, who is in third place in polling, made the remarks about potentially being former President Donald Trump’s running mate, should he win the primary, during an interview this week with CBN News Chief Political Analyst David Brody.
“I know what you’re gonna say, ‘I don’t play for a second,'” Brody said. “I got it. I’ve seen the line. I get it. But Ron DeSantis has ruled it out, says, ‘No way, I’m not gonna do it.’ Are you going to rule it out?”
“I don’t play for second,” Haley responded. “It’s offensive when anybody says that, ‘Oh, you know, she wants to be vice president.’ You don’t do something like this to be vice president. You don’t sacrifice emotionally, mentally, physically, with your family, everything to come in for second. That’s not me. I’ve never done second a day in my life. I’m not going to start now.”
“I’m doing this because we have a country to save,” she said. “Everybody knows that our country is in disarray, and the world is on fire. And I don’t trust anybody else to fix it. And I’m determined to get that done. And we’re gonna get it done. And the people want us to get that done. You can feel it. And that’s why you’re seeing us move in the polls.”
The interviewer asked her again, “But you’re not going to rule it out?”
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“I mean it’s not even a conversation and it doesn’t matter what candidate wants me to answer it,” she said. “I don’t play for second. I don’t know what more I can say than to get them to understand that.”
WATCH:
JUST IN: I Asked Nikki Haley TWICE if she would rule out a VP slot if asked (unlikely FYI). Here's what she said. @NikkiHaley @CBNNews @700club pic.twitter.com/4KqaC4qh8j
— David Brody (@DBrodyReports) December 19, 2023
Talk about Haley being Trump’s VP pick started earlier this month when the former president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, suggested that Trump was open to the idea when asked about it on Newsmax. When asked about it by radio host Howie Carr on Friday, Trump said while it was “unlikely,” he did find the idea “interesting” but said he wasn’t “even thinking about that.” He added, “I’ve always gotten along with Nikki.”
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged in a book that Haley “plotted” with some who were close to then-President Trump “to try to become Trump’s vice president” and replace then-Vice President Mike Pence, CNN reported. Haley denied that the accusation was true. Haley said in April 2021 that she would not run against Trump in 2024, but later decided to call Trump first about wanting to run. “I talked to her for a little while,” said Trump. “I said look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run.”
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took aim at Haley on Sunday for saying that she believes that Trump is fit for office and suggested that she might be angling for the vice presidency. “When she hasn’t ruled out being his vice president, I don’t think you could take her as a serious contender against him,” Christie said. “Ron DeSantis and I have both ruled out accepting the vice presidency from Donald Trump. Nikki Haley has not.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said last week that he would not under any circumstance accept a vice presidential nomination and suggested that Haley was working to help Trump.
“People that are for Trump, I’m their next choice. If everyone else got out, but me and Trump, all these other candidates, I would get that support because they’d see that I’m the only one that can beat him. There’s a reason why they spend money against me, Haley and Trump spend money against me,” he said, citing data showing that significantly more money has been spent attacking him than all the other candidates. “He has not spent any money against her. And she has not spent any money against him. She will not answer directly, and she owes you an answer to this, will she accept a vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump? Yes or no?”