Nikki Haley says looming Trump indictment is more about ‘revenge’ than justice

Nikki Haley joined other presidential hopefuls in slamming Donald Trump’s anticipated indictment as politically motivated ‘revenge’ against the former president.

As a 2024 presidential candidate, Trump will be Haley’s rival in the Republican primary election next year – highlighting the awkward predicament of those running who don’t want to anger his loyal base but may want to speak out against his indiscretions.

Haley teetered on the edge of fully defending the former president, claiming she didn’t want to weigh-in too much considering the indictment potential is still just a ‘rumor.’

‘From everything I have seen from this New York district attorney is that this would be something he’d be doing for political points,’ the former South Carolina governor and Trump-era ambassador to the UN told Fox News’ Special Report on Monday evening.

The comments came as New York Police Department put all 36,000 officers on high alert, ordering them to be in uniform and on standby for deployment in anticipation of unrest from a potential indictment or arrest.

Trump said that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, but law enforcement officials told DailyMail.com that the earliest action could be taken by Wednesday.

‘I think what we know is, when you get into political prosecutions like this, it’s more about revenge than it is about justice,’ Haley said.

She added: ‘Right now, it’s rumor. And I certainly hope it’s not the case. I guess we will find out tomorrow.’

The indictment would be the first in a slew of cases against Trump. This particular one would come from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in the case involving the former president’s hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.

Haley’s criticism of the Manhattan DA mirrors Trump’s attacks against Bragg claiming he is ‘taking his orders from D.C.’

Her response to news of a potential indictment followed a response from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has not yet announced a bid for president but is expected to jump in the race in coming months.

While weighing-in on the case Monday morning, DeSantis also highlighted the allegations against Trump without using his name. The Florida governor has been careful not to directly criticize or get into warring words with Trump.

DeSantis broke his silence on the topic by describing the indictment as ‘some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA.’

‘I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,’ DeSantis said. I just — I can’t speak to that.’

The remarks prompted swift backlash from Trump, who posted to his Truth Social platform unsubstantiated allegations that DeSantis had inappropriate relationships with ‘underage’ women when he was a teacher. He also brought into question DeSantis’ sexuality, claiming a man might come out with allegations against him.

‘They can go back and forth on all of that stuff,’ Haley said of the two GOP frontrunners.

‘I think what we need to focus on is, first of all, you never want to condone any sort of prosecution that’s being politicized, because we know that that’s just political revenge. And I think we have seen enough of that over the past few years,’ she added.

Haley, who was the first big-name Republican to jump in the GOP primary race after Trump, dismissed the case against her former boss as ‘some revenge by some political people in New York’ and asked to move along the conversation.