Nikki Haley wants Donald Trump to pay a political price for his legal issues – before the general election.
Haley took aim at Trump for his legal troubles on Tuesday evening, after the New York Times reported that political committees affiliated with the former president spent almost $50 million to fund his legal fees last year.
“Another reason Donald Trump refuses to debate me…” “His PAC spent [$]50 million in campaign funds on his legal fees,” Haley wrote on X (previously Twitter). “He can’t beat Joe Biden if he’s spending all his time and money on court cases and chaos.”
According to the Times, the $50 million is about equivalent to the amount raised by Haley, Trump’s lone remaining high-profile opponent in the Republican primary, across her committees last year.
It is the second time in recent days that Haley has cited Trump’s increasing legal bills as a line of attack, indicating a significant increase as the campaign heads to her home state, South Carolina. Last week, she went after the former president after a jury sentenced him to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamatory remarks he made about her during his presidency in response to her rape accusation against him.
“Donald Trump wants to be the presumptive Republican nominee, and we’re talking about $83 million in damages,” Haley wrote on X following the verdict. “We are not talking about mending the border. We’re not talking about addressing inflation. “America can do better than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
On Meet the Press on Sunday, she stated that she “absolutely” trusted the jury’s decision in that case.
A Trump campaign representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As the field has tightened, Haley’s criticisms of Trump have grown in intensity. With just the two of them left, she’s begun to focus more aggressively on Trump’s legal issues. Many past primary opponents avoided discussing the matter for fear that the former president would use it to rally Republican voters behind him.
The former South Carolina governor has mostly avoided discussing the facts of Trump’s hundreds of indictments, instead focused on the distractions they present.
“Chaos follows him,” she frequently remarks when asked if the charges or allegations that Trump incited a riot at the United States Capitol should prevent him from returning to the White House.