Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Thursday she is “tired of commenting on every Trump drama” after the former president was indicted for a third time.
During an appearance on the Good Morning New Hampshire with Jack Heath radio show, Haley was asked how much time should be devoted to talking about the former president and the issues he faces, versus the issues the country faces.
“Unlike the other candidates, I didn’t rush out with a statement yesterday on Trump’s indictment for one simple reason: Like most Americans, I’m tired of commenting on every Trump drama. I’ve lost track of whether this indictment is the third or fourth or the fifth,” she said.
“We should be focusing on how to stop China,” she added. “We should be focusing on how to close the border. We need to be reversing Bidenomics. Putting a 77-year-old former president in prison doesn’t do any of that. We’ve got to move on already.”
On Thursday, Trump is slated to have his first court appearance in the latest case, which centers on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his actions leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot.
The former president has been charged with four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The 45-page indictment alleges that Trump “pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results.”
The former South Carolina governor did, however, go on to discuss Trump’s latest indictment, noting that she has said January 6 was a terrible day and that Trump “bears some responsibility for what happened,” but adding that “Trump didn’t attack the Capitol. It’s not a crime to say that you think an election was stolen. He should not be prosecuted for that.”
“I think the Justice Department has become way too political,” she added. “We see that with how they’re letting Biden off and how hard they’re coming on Trump. And I think that’s the reason we need to talk about it. So, I hope that’s what we’re talking about when we think about how we go forward. We need to get our country back on track. That’s the focus.”
She said the country has numerous issues that should take precedence on the debate stage, including debt and inflation, a lack of transparency in schools, high crime, national security threats from China and an open border.