Nikki Haley responds to Liz Cheney's criticism of her Trump support

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has rejected criticism from former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Haley's support for former President Donald Trump, despite previously saying she did not believe he was fit for office.

In an exclusive interview on “This Week” on Sunday, co-host Jonathan Karl asked Cheney about Haley's statement that she was “ready” to campaign for Trump after the former South Carolina governor openly opposed him in the Republican primary.

Cheney, who last week endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, told Karl: “I cannot understand [Haley’s] I think the things she said and made clear when she ran in the primaries are true.”

During the Republican presidential primary, Haley said Trump lacked focus and “chaos followed him.” Months later, Haley said she would vote for him despite her disappointment with Trump.

Responding to Cheney's comments, Haley told “Fox and Friends” on Monday morning, “I respect her decision, but she can't say my decision isn't principled. It really is.”

“We can either vote on style or on substance. I vote on substance,” she continued. “I see the fact that we cannot live the next four years the way we lived the last four years. This is not a competition.”

Haley sought to differentiate Trump from Harris on economic, border and energy issues, adding: “We should be very clear: If you don't like him, you can say so, but you can't say his policies are worse than Kamala Harris's.”

Haley also directly criticized Trump and his vice presidential candidate, Senator JD Vance, when asked about the “gender gap” in which women supported Harris more than Trump.

“I think it's because Donald Trump and JD Vance need to change the way they talk about women. You don't have to call Kamala stupid. She didn't get this far by accident – she's here. That's it. She's a prosecutor,” Haley said. “You don't have to talk about intelligence, looks or anything else. Just focus on the policy. If you call even a Democrat stupid, Republicans get upset too.”

Last month, Trump said he had a “right” to make personal attacks against Harris because he did not respect her and did not have “a lot of respect for her intelligence.”

Haley reiterated that Trump should refrain from these attacks and focus on substance.

“The bottom line is that our policies are winning. Stick to your policies and leave all the other stuff out. That's how he can win,” Haley said.