Nikki Haley: I'd Pardon Trump

She says she'd do it so 'that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2023 8:50 AM CST
Haley Says She'll Pardon Trump if Elected President
Nikki Haley speaks during a town hall, Dec. 18, 2023, in Nevada, Iowa.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Nikki Haley says former President Trump won't have to worry about languishing in a federal prison if she's elected president. In response to a question from a 9-year-old boy at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Thursday, the Republican candidate said it would be in the "best interest of the country" to pardon Trump if he is found guilty, NBC News reports. "A leader needs to think about what's in the best interest of the country," Haley said. "What's in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail, that continues to divide our country." She added: "What's in the best interest of the country would be to pardon him, so that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him."

The former South Carolina governor has had a bump in the polls recently but she remains far behind Trump, the Hill reports. At the event in the ski town of North Conway on Thursday, there was laughter when the same 9-year-old compared her to John Kerry, reports the New York Post. "Chris Christie thinks you're a flip-flopper on the Donald Trump issue, and honestly, I agree with him," he said. "You're basically the new John Kerry." Haley said her position had been criticized by Trump supporters and "Never Trumpers" alike. "I told you that I agreed with a lot of his policies. But do I think he's the right president to go forward? No," Haley said, per the Post. "We can't handle the chaos anymore." (Earlier Thursday, Haley said someone who asked her a question about the Civil War was "a Democratic plant.")

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