Republican presidential candidate on Saturday questioned Donald Trump鈥檚 mental fitness after he appeared to confuse her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when talking about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
鈥淟ast night, Trump is at a rally and he鈥檚 going on and on mentioning me several times as to why I didn鈥檛 take security during the Capitol riots. Why I didn鈥檛 handle Jan. 6 better. I wasn鈥檛 even in D.C. on Jan. 6. I wasn鈥檛 in office then,鈥 Haley said.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e saying he got confused. That he was talking about something else. That he was talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiples times in that scenario,鈥 the former South Carolina governor added.
Haley told a crowd of voters in Keene, N.H.: 鈥淭he concern I have is 鈥 I鈥檓 not saying anything derogatory, but when you鈥檙e dealing with the pressures of a presidency, we can鈥檛 have someone else that we question whether they鈥檙e mentally fit to do it.鈥
Her comments come after Trump said at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, 鈥淏y the way, they never report the crowd on Jan. 6. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley 鈥 did you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it? All of it, because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security, we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, national guards, whatever they want. They turned it down.鈥
Beyond confusing Haley with Pelosi, Trump鈥檚 contention that the speaker of the House is responsible for U.S. Capitol security is not accurate, as CNN previously .
鈥淲e need people at the top of their game,鈥 Haley said in a Fox News interview Saturday. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saying that this is a Joe Biden situation, but I鈥檓 saying, are we really going to go and have two 80-year-olds running for president?鈥
In the days before Tuesday鈥檚 New Hampshire primary, Haley, 52, has sought to highlight her age gap with Trump, 77, and President Joe Biden, 81. She has also been adamant about calling for term limits and mental competency tests for any politician over the age of 75.
Since the start of 2023, Haley and her allies have spent nearly $28.6 million on advertising in New Hampshire, while Trump and his allies have spent about $14.4 million.
But in recent weeks, the gap between Haley and Trump鈥檚 advertising has narrowed. Since the start of the new year, Haley and her allies have combined to spend about $9 million in New Hampshire, while Trump and his allies have spent about $8.5 million.
For weeks, Trump鈥檚 campaign has treated Haley as a serious threat in New Hampshire 鈥 and the candidate himself made that clear with a series of attacks on social media and at a rally in the state.