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Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley pushed back when pressed at Wednesday’s primary debate on whether she’s too tight with billionaires and corporate interests, saying those supporters won’t affect her stances on key issues.
“When it comes to these corporate people that want to suddenly support us, we’ll take it, but I don’t ask them what their policies are. They ask me what my policies are, and I tell them,” said Haley, a former ambassador to the U.N. and former South Carolina governor.
“Sometimes they agree with me, sometimes they don’t,” she added. “Some don’t like how tough I am on China. Some don’t like the fact that I’ve signed pro-life bills. Some don’t like the fact that I may oppose corporate bailouts.”
GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy attacked Haley over her time on Boeing’s
BA,
board of directors and the money she’s received from Silicon Valley billionaire Reid Hoffman.
“Nikki, you were bankrupt when you left the U.N.,” the entrepreneur said. “Now you’re a multimillionaire. That math does not add up. It adds up to the fact that you are corrupt.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized her as well, saying: “These Wall Street liberal donors, they make money in China. They are not going to let her be tough on China, and she will cave to the donors.”
Haley, meanwhile, said she wasn’t bankrupt after her stint as ambassador, but rather she and her husband had been in public service. She also spoke highly of Boeing, but noted she left the airplane maker’s board because she didn’t support its efforts to get a bailout during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In terms of these donors that are supporting me, they’re just jealous,” Haley added, referring to DeSantis and Ramaswamy. “They wish that they were supporting them.”
The comments came Wednesday night at the 2024 Republican presidential primary’s fourth debate, held at the University of Alabama. Besides DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also took part in the clash.
The primary’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, skipped the debate, just as he steered clear of the previous three.
