Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said former President Donald Trump’s legal issues need to be resolved before the election.
On Feb. 29, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on whether the former president has presidential immunity in a criminal case against his challenge to the 2020 election.
President Trump thanked the Supreme Court on Truth Social, stating that “without presidential immunity, a president will not be able to properly function or make decisions in the best interest of the United States of America.”
Ms. Haley, however, said presidents shouldn’t get “complete immunity” and shouldn’t have “free rein to do whatever they want to do.”
“I don’t think that a president should be immune from anything,” she said, adding that President Trump is asking for leniency that “no other president’s ever asked for.”
“I hope the Supreme Court rules quickly and I hope they make their decision, but I think that they do have to ... give an answer on this,” she said.
Courts ‘Need to Do Things Quickly’
In a separate interview with Scripps News, she said it’s “important that all of that come out now so that we’re not dealing with it later.”“I think he’s hoping it comes out later so that he can make it all go away, but either way, we’ve got a problem on our hands,” she said.
Chaos, she said, surrounds President Trump.
“We continue to see this play out,” she said. “And we can’t be a country in disarray in a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos.”
She added that the country “won’t survive” another Trump term.
“I just think they need to do things quickly,” she said in response to a question on how much of a priority needs to be placed on the cases.
“If it’s hearing a case, do it quickly; if it’s an appeal, do it quickly,” she said.
When NBC News’ Kristen Welker pointed out that Ms. Haley has “yet to win a state,” the candidate said she was still excited heading into Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states and the U.S. territory of American Samoa will hold their presidential primaries and caucuses.
Ms. Haley has rebuffed any suggestions that she join a third-party ticket, such as the “unity ticket” being considered by the centrist No Labels group, and has resisted calls for her to drop out of the race and concede that President Trump is the presumptive nominee.
“Donald Trump tonight is the Republican nominee,” Mr. Gingrich told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “This is over.”
President Trump leads the way in the Republican race as Ms. Haley—who lost in her home state of South Carolina—trails behind.
Super Tuesday
When asked if she saw Super Tuesday as her “last stand,” she answered that she’s “hoping for a good competitive showing.”“That’s always been the case in every step is can we continue to stay competitive,” she said. “When 70 percent of Americans say they don’t want Donald Trump or Joe Biden, you keep going to make sure people have a choice. That’s what this is all about.”
She said President Trump was moving the Republican Party away from small government, less spending, and “peace through strength,” and into isolation from the American people.
“This is about our kids and other people’s grandkids,” she said. “They need to know that the American dream is still there for them.”
To the question of what she would say to Republicans who accuse her of helping President Joe Biden the longer she stays in the race, she said, “That’s ridiculous.”
“If I get out of the race today, it would be the longest general election in history,” she said. “We’re giving people a choice.”
