Nikki Haley says she’s no longer bound by RNC pledge to endorse Trump if he wins

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley no longer feels bound by a pledge made to the Republican National Committee that she would support the GOP presidential nominee, she said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Asked by NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, “So you’re no longer bound by that pledge?” Haley responded that she was not obligated to endorse former President Donald Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee.

“No, I think I’ll make what decision I want to make, but that’s not something I’m thinking about,” she said, noting that “if you talk about an endorsement, you’re talking about a loss. I don’t think like that.”

She added, “When you’re in a race, you don’t think about losing. You think about continuing to go forward.”

Pressed further about whether voters who will head to the polls in the GOP presidential primary on Tuesday deserve to know where she stands on endorsing Trump, Haley continued to dodge the question, saying, “When you all ask Donald Trump if he would support me, then I will talk about that. But right now, my focus is, ‘How do we touch as many voters? How do we win?’”

The statement is an apparent shift from her previous attitude toward a potential endorsement. Asked in July whether she would support Trump if he wins, Haley told Fox News, “I would support him because I’m not going to have a President Kamala Harris,” referring to the fact that Vice President Kamala Harris would become president if anything were to happen to President Joe Biden in a second term.

In order to participate in primary debates hosted by the Republican National Committee last fall, every candidate signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee. Haley signed that pledge.

But in her “Meet the Press”