Former President Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ahead of the New Hampshire primary, weaponizing her South Asian heritage to spread "birther" conspiracy theories. In a Truth Social post, Trump referred to Haley by her birth name Nimarata (which he misspelled as Nimrada) and shared another post that suggested Haley is ineligible to run for president because her parents were not U.S. citizens when she was born.
Haley has responded with critiques of her own, slamming his support for raising the retirement age, increasing the federal gas tax, and adding to the national debt. Most recently, Haley attacked Trump's and Biden's ages, saying that most Americans "think that having two 80-year-olds running for president is not what they want."
But apparently, she's tongue-tied when it comes to Trump's history of sexual abuse.
Earlier this week, CNN's Dana Bash asked Haley how she felt about Trump being held liable for sexual abuse in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. "First of all, I haven't paid attention to his cases and I'm not a lawyer," Haley responded. "All I know is he's innocent until proven guilty."
It's hard to believe Haley hasn't been paying attention. But innocence isn't the point here. Trump has already been found liable for sexually abusing Carroll. "The fact that Mr. Trump sexually abused — indeed raped — Ms. Carroll has been conclusively established," noted New York Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Haley is still trying to walk that razor-thin line of running against Trump while not turning away his MAGA supporters.
Read more exclusive insights from Jen Psaki here. And tune into "Inside with Jen Psaki" Mondays at 8 p.m. ET, and Sundays at 12 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
