Haley Expected to Urge Trump to Earn Votes

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is expected to drop out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination Wednesday, will not likely announce her endorsement for former President Donald Trump's campaign but will encourage him to earn her supporters' votes, sources close to her said.

Haley, though, is expected to say that she plans to advocate for the conservative policies that she backs while cautioning against what she sees as a lack of fiscal responsibility and a growing sense of isolationism in Washington, reports The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the news that she will announce during a speech in South Carolina that she's leaving the race.

Haley's decision comes after a resounding loss in the Super Tuesday primaries, where she took just one state, Vermont. She also won the primary in Washington, D.C., but has lost all other primary elections to Trump.

In an interview Sunday, Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she does not feel bound by her pledge to the Republican National Committee last year to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee.

And when she was pressed about whether voters in this week's Super Tuesday primary elections should know how she feels about a Trump endorsement, Haley responded, "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?"

Haley has often criticized the ages of Trump and President Joe Biden, and Sunday called them "two guys in their 80s" who "continue to put this division between Americans."

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview that she hopes Haley will endorse Trump "considering again that voters and states across this country have made their choice very clear," reports NBC News.

"It is beyond time for Nikki Haley to get out of this race and to unify around the president," Leavitt told Fox Business. "He has been saying this for weeks, really for months. And so we encourage her to do just that, to adhere to the will of Republican voters."

Haley has often criticized Trump, including about Jan. 6, but has also said she would pardon him if she was elected and he was convicted of federal crimes.

Her primary base was greatly built through anti-Trump Republicans and independent voters, and her criticism of her rival for the nomination continued to grow, including last month when she told NBC that Trump is "diminished" and "not the same person he was in 2016."

Meanwhile, CNN reported Wednesday that it doesn't appear that Haley is completely rejecting an endorsement for Trump, but also pointed out that the former president's tone has not been welcoming to Haley's supporters and donors.

In January, Trump said he would reject funds to his campaign being made by donors who continue giving money to Haley, posting that "Anybody that makes a 'Contribution' to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don't want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!"

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