Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday said former President Donald Trump is “completely distracted” by his legal woes and the GOP cannot win in November if its presidential nominee is sitting in a courtroom.
Ms. Haley said Mr. Trump is on course for failure in the general election because court cases are draining his cash stores and might result in a criminal conviction this year.
“Look, he’s already had, I think, three verdicts against him now, over half a billion dollars he’s going to have to pay. All he talks about is these court cases. He’s not talking about the American people. And it’s a problem,” Ms. Haley told Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “He’s going to be in court March, April, May, and June, by his own words. He’s going to be spending more time in a courtroom than he will on the campaign trail.”
Ms. Haley is leaning into Mr. Trump‘s legal problems as she digs in for a long fight against the former president and front-runner. She is refusing to drop out of the GOP presidential primary despite losing to Mr. Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire and trailing in polls ahead of the primary in her home state.
She’s vowed to keep campaigning if she loses the South Carolina contest on Saturday.
Even as some Republican officials tell her to give up, Ms. Haley is highlighting anecdotes about Mr. Trump mocking military members and his reluctance to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Trump in recent weeks got hit by a pair of New York civil judgments that could cost him half a billion dollars, and a judge in Manhattan said Mr. Trump must stand trial on March 25 in a case that alleges his falsified business records to cover up hush-payments payments in 2016.
Ms. Haley said the court distractions add to the reasons it will be difficult for Republicans to beat President Biden, even though the 81-year-old incumbent is viewed as vulnerable.
“You don’t win a general election sitting in a courtroom,” Ms. Haley said of Mr. Trump. “He is obsessed with himself. And now with these court cases, and I don’t blame him, you owe half a billion dollars. That’s a pretty big tab that you’ve got to pay that he’s going to have to focus on that. I’m focused on the American people.”
Mr. Trump says all of his legal woes are part of a Democratic plot to thwart his presidential bid. He’s used the cases to spur his political agenda, arguing that voters need to support him en masse to combat a rigged legal system.