Nikki Haley said Republicans should “quit” whining about Kamala Harris not doing interviews with the press and get on with campaigning.
The Democratic nominee for president has faced criticism for not having done any interviews with the media since declaring her intention to run for the White House, especially from Donald Trump.
But Haley, who went up against Trump in her bid to be selected as the Republican nominee, told Fox News: “We don’t need an interview from her, we need to take her at her word. We should not be surprised that we are now running against Kamala Harris, it was her all the time. There was no way Joe Biden, in the condition that we saw him, could take on the stresses of a presidential election.
“That was something I believed in then, it’s why I constantly referred back to her – because I knew that Kamala Harris was the person that we had.”
Republicans shouldn’t be surprised we’re running against Kamala Harris. It’s time to stop complaining and start calling out her liberal agenda.
We don’t need an interview from her. We need to take her at her word.
She’s said she wants to raise taxes. She’s said she thinks… pic.twitter.com/Gi1YuklSbe
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 14, 2024
Haley went on: “The Republican Party needs to make a serious shift here. And the first thing is, the Republican Party, Donald Trump, people here at Fox – quit complaining that she’s not giving an interview.
“I take her at her word that she wants to raise taxes for households over $100,000, that she wants to add a pharmaceutical tax and a healthcare tax, I take her at her word that she thinks that illegal immigrants should be able to vote and be given drivers licenses, I take her at her word that she wants to ban fracking and kill a bunch of U.S. jobs – take her at her word.”
The host interrupted to point out that the Harris campaign has put out statements to say her positions on some of those issues have changed.
But Haley insisted: “She has said this. What Donald Trump needs to do is go out there and campaign every single day, telling the American people exactly what Kamala Harris has said.
“We are 80-plus days out, we need him to win. But you got to go out and do the work, and the one thing that Republicans have to stop doing – quit whining about her.
“We knew it was going to be her, she’s not going to give an interview, they’re going to hold out as long as they can – that’s their right, they can do it. That doesn’t mean we can’t talk about what she believes in.”
AP
Newsweek has contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns via email for comment.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under Trump, ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but was defeated by her former boss. She ended her campaign in March after a string of Super Tuesday losses.
Before she dropped out of the GOP presidential primary, Haley won 95 Republican National Convention delegates, more than any other candidate besides Trump, who secured victory with more than 2,200 delegates.
