Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, addressing speculation that she could be tagged to replace Vice President Mike Pence on President Donald Trump's reelection ticket, said Tuesday she hasn't spoken to the president about replacing Pence and she'd be disappointed if Trump decided to switch his vice president out.
"I can tell you the vice president has done a fantastic job," Haley, also a former governor of South Carolina, commented on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "He was a friend of mine prior to becoming vice president and we were governors together. I think he has been a great partner to the president."
Haley added that Pence has handled the Coronavirus Task Force team well and that he's shown himself to be an asset to Trump.
"I think the country owes him a debt for keeping us stable and strong during the COVID situation and I think they're a great partnership," said Haley of Pence. "I look forward to supporting both of them."
Meanwhile, Haley said she thinks the election will come down to the income gap in the nation, particularly after the coronavirus pandemic.
White-collar people are "comfortable," she said, but people who are middle-to-lower income are struggling and wondering how they will make it the next day.
"I've always believed on Election Day, people vote their wallets," said Haley. "I think President Trump's going to pull this out in November because at the end of the day, he did it once and they know he can do it again."
Haley also discussed the country's relationship with China, noting that once President Xi Jinping "made himself king, they got very aggressive."
"They started to be very aggressive at the UN and wanting to have leadership roles and they started talking down to everyone," said Haley. "They're continuing to push, putting pressure on Hong Kong, we're seeing the pressure go to Taiwan, the South China Sea, in India, this is them playing the king of the mountain scenario. At the end of the day, what the United States needs to do is we need to let them know we're onto them, we need to follow through on the intellectual property measures that were in that trade deal that we had and hold them accountable."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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