EXCLUSIVE – Former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is demanding {that a} group claiming to symbolize former Haley voters who assist the presidential marketing campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris cease utilizing her identify.
“Kamala Harris and I are whole opposites on each difficulty. Any try to make use of my identify to assist her or her agenda is misleading and improper,” Haley stated in an announcement shared first with Fox Information on Tuesday. “I assist Donald Trump as a result of he understands we have to make America robust, secure, and affluent.”
Haley’s feedback had been directed towards a political motion committee (PAC) that was beforehand often called “Haley Voters for Biden.”
The group began that includes Harris’ identify on Sunday, after President Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed his vp to succeed him because the Democratic Occasion’s presidential nominee.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR HARRIS NOW THAT SHE’S SEEMINGLY LOCKED UP THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION
Nikki Haley speaks on the Republican Nationwide Conference on July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Haley launched her personal White Home bid in February of final 12 months, changing into the primary main Republican candidate to problem former President Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. And he or she was the final rival to Trump left standing earlier than she dropped out of the race in early March. Even after ending her marketing campaign, Haley continued to seize as much as 20% of the vote in a few of the ensuing Republican presidential primaries.
ONE TIME TRUMP RIVAL HALEY IN GOP CONVENTION SPOTLIGHT
Haley was a really vocal critic of the previous president throughout their heated major race. However in late Might, in her first public feedback since asserting the tip of her 2024 marketing campaign, Haley stated she would vote for Trump. And in a speech final week on the Republican Nationwide Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she formally endorsed Trump.
The group, which says it is a coalition of former Haley voters, pledged their assist for Harris quickly after Biden endorsed his vp.
“We assist @JoeBiden‘s advice and can instantly change the identify of our group to Haley Voters for Harris. There is no such thing as a time to lose,” the group wrote in a social media posting on Sunday afternoon.
The group, which modified the identify of its web page on X and on its web site, additionally spotlighted that it has no affiliation with Haley or her aligned political committees.
“We additionally don’t and by no means claimed to talk for Nikki Haley. We’re reaching out to a subset of Haley voters who will vote their consciences,” the group wrote. “Haley stated Trump needed to earn our votes. He has accomplished nothing to take action – always deriding her – and picked Vance as his working mate.”
However a letter from a legislation agency representing Haley’s presidential marketing campaign, shared with Fox Information, demanded that the group “stop and desist from any illegal use of Ambassador Haley’s identify in your political motion committee identify, and from any use of her identify, picture or likeness that means her assist for the election of Kamala Harris as President of america.”
“Any use by you of Ambassador Haley’s identify, picture, or likeness is with out her permission. Ambassador Haley has been clear in her assist of Harris’ opponent. Any intimation that Ambassador Haley helps Harris is deliberately false and deceptive,” the letter continued.
“Kamala Harris and I are whole opposites on each difficulty. Any try to make use of my identify to assist her or her agenda is misleading and improper,” Haley stated in an announcement shared with Fox Information on Tuesday. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)
The letter warns that if the group fundraises below the identify “Haley Voters for Harris” or an identical identify, the Haley marketing campaign will alert investigative authorities, together with the Justice Division and the FBI.
Lower than 36 hours after Biden’s blockbuster information, Harris introduced that she had locked up the nomination.
“I’m proud to have earned the assist wanted to change into our get together’s nominee,” the vp wrote in a social media put up simply after midnight early Tuesday morning.
Harris showcased that she’d received commitments of backing from a majority of the practically 4,000 delegates to subsequent month’s Democratic Nationwide Conference, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago.
As a lot of the Democratic Occasion – together with governors, senators and Home members in addition to get together leaders – shortly coalesced behind Harris following Biden’s blockbuster information, state delegations to the conference began huddling the previous two days and introduced their assist for the vp. And an Related Press survey of Democratic delegates indicated by late Monday that Harris had gone excessive.
Final week, earlier than Biden ended his bid, Haley reiterated her criticism of Harris relating to the disaster on the nation’s southern border.
In her tackle on the GOP conference, Haley emphasised that the vp “had one job… and that was to repair the border. Now think about her in control of the complete nation.”
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