Nikki Haley says Trump is 'not qualified' to be president because of his 'disrespect for the military'

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Monday that Donald Trump is "not qualified" to lead the country again after his recent comments about her deployed husband.

"He showed that with that kind of disrespect for the military, he’s not qualified to be the president of the United States, because I don’t trust him to protect them," Haley said.

During a rally Saturday afternoon, Trump jabbed at Haley and her husband when talking about meeting them at his Florida resort.

“Then she comes over to see me at Mar-a-Lago. ‘Sir, I will never run against you.’ She brought her husband," Trump said. "Where’s your husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone! He knew. He knew."

In the past, Trump has made dubious comments about the Haleys' marriage.

Michael Haley, a commissioned officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard, left for a yearlong deployment in June — a fact that Haley frequently mentions at her campaign events.

Haley fired back at Trump on social media over the weekend, and then in remarks to reporters Monday contrasted her husband's service with the fact that Trump has "never come anywhere near a military uniform."

"He’s never had to fight for survival like so many of them sacrifice to go do," she said. "The most harm he’s ever come across is whether a golf ball hits him on a golf cart."

And Haley said Monday that she didn't believe Trump's comments were an accident.

"This wasn’t a slip of the tongue for Trump," she said. "When he goes off his teleprompter, that’s him speaking from the heart and it’s a pattern." She brought up examples of Trump calling military members "suckers" and "losers," according to his former chief of staff