Exclusive: Haley offers no apologies for what she said about Trump during primary and defends choice to back him over Harris

CNN —

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered no apologies Thursday for the “tough things” she said about Donald Trump during their bruising Republican primary fight, but she told CNN’s Jake Tapper she does not doubt her choice to support the former president over presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November election.

In her first interview since endorsing Trump and speaking at the Republican National Convention, Haley said President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race Sunday did not come as a surprise.

“I wasn’t surprised, and I didn’t take happiness in it,” Haley said of Biden’s announcement. “I think through the whole campaign, I fought for mental competency tests. I wasn’t doing it to be disrespectful. I wasn’t doing it to be mean. I was doing it because I think it’s not just Joe Biden. There is an issue we have in DC, where people will go into office and they won’t let go. And then their staffers and their family keep propping them up, and it’s a problem for the American people.”

Haley added: “I never thought he would make it to the election. I always said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for Kamala Harris, and I think that’s what’s playing out.”

But Haley – who said during the campaign that the first party “to retire its 80-year-old candidate” would win the election – argued that Democrats’ decision to elevate Harris gave them “the weakest candidate they could put in.”

“She is much more progressive than Joe Biden ever was,” Haley said. “So, the fact they put in Kamala Harris – kudos for putting in someone younger – the fact that you put in one of the most liberal politicians you probably could have put in, it’s going to be an issue.”