Nikki Haley might be challenging former President Donald Trump to be the 2024 GOP presidential candidate, but that doesn’t mean she won’t pardon him if he is found guilty of one of the dozens of charges against him.
“I would pardon Trump,” the former South Carolina governor told a 9-year-old attendee at an event in New Hampshire this week, according to NBC News.
Haley – who also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations under Trump – has been rising in the polls, and as of this week had nearly closed in on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ long held second place position in the GOP primary race. Per FiveThirtyEight, she had support of 11% of GOP voters by Saturday while DeSantis still maintained a slight lead at 11.7%.
Trump, on the other hand, had support from more than 62% of GOP voters. He even edged ahead of President Joe Biden in recent 2024 general election polls.
However, some of the criminal charges could land him in prison – and prevent him from appearing on ballots. So far, it looks as if his name is off the GOP primary ballots in Colorado and Maine and there are more pending efforts to remove him from ballots across the nation.
“If he is found guilty, a leader needs to think about what’s in the best interests of the country. What’s in the best interests of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail that continues to divide our county. What’s in the best interest of the country is to pardon him so we can move on and no longer talk about him.”
NBC News noted that Haley has mentioned before that she would be willing to pardon Trump. Her comment about the 77-year-old frontrunner being “an 80-year-old man” also echoes her call for mental exams to be administered to all candidates over age 75. She’s also criticized Biden for his age, and said that voting for him would be a vote for current Vice President Kamala Harris.