Nikki Haley was hit with a wave of MAGA attacks Monday after she backed the jury in the E. Jean Carroll sex assault and defamation case against former President Donald Trump.
Pro-Trump Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) led the charge against Haley after Trump’s sole remaining rival in the Republican presidential race said she believed the panel did the right thing by ordering Trump to pay $83 million in damages.
“Nikki will do anything for anyone who lines her pockets with cash!” Greene posted on X.
Haley stoked the anger, which was echoed by several far right-wing supporters of Trump, by praising jurors who decided against Trump in a Fox News interview.
“I do think American juries still get it right. They listen to the evidence. They make the decision based on the evidence,” Haley said. “I trust that they’re making the right decision.”
Haley sought to walk a fine line by repeating her past vague criticism of some of the myriad legal actions against Trump, saying “politics has been played” by some unnamed prosecutors and judges in Trump cases.
“I just tell the truth the way I see it,” Haley added.
Haley is coming under increasingly harsh attacks from Trump and his allies as he tries to force her out of the GOP race as soon as possible.
The former UN ambassador, who came in second to Trump in the New Hampshire primary, has vowed to stay in the race at least through the primary in her home state of South Carolina next month and the Super Tuesday primaries 10 days later.
Haley heads to New York Tuesday for a big-money fundraising event with Wall Street billionaire donors as she looks to bankroll her campaign for several more weeks.
Most Republican analysts give Haley next to no chance of wrestling the nomination away from Trump, who remains the most popular and powerful figure in the GOP.
But she points to polls showing she has a far better chance of beating President Biden, especially with the uncertainty swirling around Trump’s looming criminal trials.