Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said on Thursday that, if elected president, she would pardon former President Trump, arguing it would be “in the best interest of the country.”
“I would pardon Trump,” Haley said at a campaign event, according to a video captured by NBC News.
“If he is found guilty, a leader needs to think about what’s in the best interest of the country,” Haley said. “What’s in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail, that continues to divide our country.”
“What’s in the best interest of the country would be to pardon him, so that we can move on as a country and no longer talk about him,” she added.
Haley previously said she would be “inclined” to pardon the former president, also the GOP frontrunner in the presidential race in 2024, if he were convicted of a crime, and if she were elected president.
Haley has recently enjoyed a bump in her polling numbers, but still, former President Trump leads the pack of GOP candidates by more than 50 points. According to the Decision Desk HQ/The Hill national polling average of GOP primary polls, Trump has 63.1 percent support, Haley has 10.8 percent and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 10.6 percent.
Trump faces four criminal cases, for a total of 91 criminal counts. Special counsel Jack Smith brought two federal indictments against Trump, for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and for alleged willful retention of national defense information. He faces additional charges in a New York case involving hush-money payments to an adult film star and a Georgia criminal RICO case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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