Donald Trump has mocked Nikki Haley for being on the campaign trail without her husband, whom she allegedly cheated on twice.
Michael Haley, a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard, is deployed in Africa and previously served in Afghanistan.
Trump attacked his only remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination at a huge rally in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday.
‘Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away… What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone,’ he said in Conway.
DailyMail.com revealed new details last month of claims by two men that Haley had extramarital affairs with them in 2008. Haley denied both of them.
Trump appeared to refer to the alleged affairs as he continued ‘he knew, he knew’.
Donald Trump has mocked Nikki Haley for being on the campaign trail without her husband, whom she allegedly cheated on twice
Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, hit back hard at Trump’s criticism of her husband at her own rally later that day
Michael Haley, a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard, is deployed in Africa and previously served in Afghanistan
Trump’s wife Melania has also been completely absent from his campaign, not appearing with him since he announced his candidacy in 2020.
Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, hit back hard at Trump’s criticism of her husband at her own rally later that day.
‘If you mock the service of a combat veteran, you don’t deserve a driver’s license, let alone being president of the United States,’ she said.
‘Donald, if you have something to say, don’t say it behind my back; get on a debate stage and say it to my face.’
Haley added on Twitter: ‘Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about.
‘Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief.’
Major Haley had his own response, posting a meme to Twitter reading, ‘The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack’ and tagged Trump’s account.
Haley quickly spun Trump’s attack into a fundraising opportunity on her website
Major Michael Haley had his own response, posting a meme to Twitter reading, ‘The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack’ and tagged Trump’s account
Haley later posted photos of her daughter Rena, 25, and Nalin, 22, in front of her tour bus in South Carolina.
‘Running for president is hard. It’s even harder to do when it feels like I’m missing my rock, Michael. But I am so grateful to, and proud of, my kids for being a part of this with me!’ she wrote.
At another point in Trump’s rally, he claimed he only made ‘Tricky Nikki’ Haley UN Ambassador because he wanted Henry McMaster to replace her as governor.
‘She did her job, she was fine, she was OK. But I didn’t put her there because I wanted her there at the UN,’ he claimed.
‘I wanted to take your lieutenant governor, who’s right here, and make him governor, that’s what I wanted. And I wanted you to have Peggy as a First Lady.
Trump also claimed ‘Birdbrain’ Haley came to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, with her husband, and promised to never run against him.
The former president’s speech included other wild claims, including President Joe Biden being ‘paid off’ by China and that Barack Obama was secretly pulling Biden’s strings.
Haley later posted photos of her daughter Rena, 25, and Nalin, 22, in front of her tour bus in South Carolina
‘Running for president is hard. It’s even harder to do when it feels like I’m missing my rock, Michael. But I am so grateful to, and proud of, my kids for being a part of this with me!’ she wrote
Trump and Haley together when she was UN Ambassador in 2017. He claimed he only gave her that role so her lieutenant governor could take her job
New witnesses last month told DailyMail.com that Haley’s denials of the two alleged 2008 affairs were false, and the supposed trysts were brazen and widely known among South Carolina politicos.
Will Folks, 49, and Larry Marchant, 61, both signed affidavits in 2010 alleging they had a sexual relationship with the then-South Carolina lawmaker, before she went on to become governor.
While the contents of the affidavits were described by major news outlets at the time, this is the first time they have been published outside of Folks’ own document which he published on his blog.
Haley, 51, denied both at the time, saying she was ‘100% faithful’ to the father of her two children and husband of 28 years.
But multiple GOP insiders told DailyMail.com that they were intimately aware of Haley’s infidelity as a South Carolina lawmaker.
These included tales of steamy liaisons in the back of her Cadillac SUV, ‘canoodling’ in her lovers’ laps at bars, and nights spent together in a Columbia, South Carolina duplex.
Haley responded to the article by kicking DailyMail.com reporters out of a campaign event and banning them from future ones.
Haley first responded to the allegations when they emerged in 2010 in a statement insisting she has been ‘100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage’
Signed affidavits obtained by DailyMail.com, and now, multiple witnesses, claim Haley had sexual relationships with Columbia lobbyist Larry Marchant Jr., 61,(left) and her communications consultant Will Folks before she was elected governor in 2010
Back in 2007, Folks was shaping Haley’s political message as her communications consultant while she served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
In a 2010 affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com, Folks stated that he and Haley ‘engaged in an inappropriate physical relationship that included numerous instances of inappropriate sexual contact’.
Larry Marchant Jr., 61, a Columbia lobbyist, also wrote a sworn statement that year that he had dinner, drinks and sex with Haley in her hotel room at a Salt Lake City conference in June 2008.
At the time Haley’s two children, Rena and Nalin, were around 10 and 7.
‘Rep. Nikki Haley and I were in Salt Lake City attending a conference together on June 14-15,2008,’ Marchant wrote in his affidavit. ‘We were both staying at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown.
‘After a night together of dinner and drinks with other participants of the conference, Rep. Haley and I returned to the hotel together.
‘We went back to her room where we had sexual intercourse and I spent the remainder of the evening. I left her room at approximately 6am.
‘I came forward publicly on this matter only after being contacted by the press and after hearing Rep. Haley claim that she had been One Hundred Percent faithful to her husband in response to the Folk’s allegations when I knew her statements were absolutely false.’
The former UN ambassador has been married to Michael Haley since 1996. They share two children, daughter Rena, now 25, and son Nalin, 22
Marchant, who was married at the time, divorced in 2013, with his wife citing the alleged Haley affair in court papers
Marchant, who was married at the time, divorced in 2013, with his wife citing the alleged Haley affair in court papers.
The Republican presidential candidate managed to successfully quash the allegations and avoid scandal – and ultimately went on to be elected governor in November 2010.
But one South Carolina GOP insider told DailyMail.com they knew about Haley’s alleged affair with Marchant at the time.
‘She was in [Marchant’s] office all the time, she’d be there at 11 or midnight, the two of them would be drinking,’ the former associate of Haley said.
The GOP insider said he had also seen Haley get into the back of her off-white Cadillac SUV with her other alleged beau, Folks.
‘I saw them sitting in it a few times with the windows steamed up,’ he said.
A second prominent South Carolina Republican said he regularly saw the distinctive Cadillac outside Folks’s duplex in Columbia, apparently staying overnight.
‘I became curious when I saw an SUV parked outside early in the morning and late at night. It had legislative tags, it wasn’t hard to figure out whose it was,’ he said.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk