'Wherever she came from': Trump defends promoting false birther claim about Haley

Former President Donald Trump is defending his recent mangling of GOP primary challenger Nikki Haley's birth name — saying he's just having «fun» and he echoed, once again, a false birther claim that Haley is not eligible to run for president because she wasn't born in the United States, saying «wherever she may come from.»

In an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier that aired Sunday, Baier asked Trump why he called the former U.N. ambassador «Nimbra» — a butchering of her birth name — in a social media post on Friday. Trump also called her «Nikki 'Nimrada' Haley» in a social media post last week.

«I do that with a lot of people, like Hutchinson. I mean, he was polling at zero for about one year, and I called him rather than Asa, I called him Ada Hutchinson, and it just felt good to me,» Trump told Baier. «And with her, it's just something that came. It's a little bit of a takeoff on her name. You know, her name, wherever she may come from.»

Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa to Punjabi Sikh parents who were living in South Carolina after emigrating from India in the 1960s. She has said that early on she adopted her middle name as her first name and later took her husband's last name when they married.

Trump's campaign shot down that his latest comments about Haley were racist.

«There are no racist undertones, as some suggest,» Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement to ABC News on Monday. «Sounds like those who take offense are engaging in fake outrage. They should get a life and live in the real world.»

To Trump, the nicknames he bestows are a point of pride and enjoyment, he told Baier.

«Some people say I'm very good at that,» Trump said of coming up with nicknames. «But, uh, I can't get into too