As reports have emerged that Nikki Haley is on a short list of vice presidential candidates for former President Donald Trump, she on Friday put to rest any notions of serving again for her former boss.
"I don't want to be anybody's vice president," the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador told voters at Mary Ann's Diner in Amherst, New Hampshire, according to The Boston Globe. "That is off the table. I have always said that."
Multiple media reports revealed Haley is on a short list of vice presidential candidates, along with Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, should Trump win the GOP nomination, as expected.
But many in Trump's inner circle are against having Haley as VP, including his son Donald Trump Jr., who told Newsmax in late December, "I would go to great lengths to make sure that that doesn't happen."
Haley has made a big push to win New Hampshire, even though she still trails Trump in the FiveThirtyEight polling average by 15.3 percentage points. Trump has been widening his lead over her since his landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, where Haley finished a distant third.
At the New Hampshire diner, Haley stopped by a table where a resident, who said he planned to vote against Trump, expressed concern about her being Trump's VP candidate and about her pledge to pardon Trump should she get elected president, the Globe reported.
"I don't want to be vice president," she told the voter.
She added her goal in pardoning Trump would be to bring the country together, not to help him, the Globe reported.
"If there's an 80-year-old president sitting in jail, you are going to see the country continue to be divided," she said. "It would be for the good of the country, not for the good of him."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.