Haley stays silent on Trump’s guilty verdict amid calls to resume White House candidacy

Nikki Haley, who campaigned on ending the “chaos” that follows Donald Trump, found herself in a strange position as the former president’s legal troubles exploded on Thursday: a silent supporter.

Haley offered her long-sought backing of Trump just eight days before a 12-member New York jury found him guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records that could potentially carry up to four years in prison.

While other Trump 2024 rivals and vice presidential contenders have rushed to back the former president, Haley has yet to say a word as of Friday afternoon.

TRUMP GUILTY IN MANHATTAN HUSH MONEY CASE

Since she dropped out of the race for the presidential nomination, she has continued to be a thorn in Trump’s side, amassing 97 delegates compared to Trump’s 2,219 delegates, according to the Associated Press.

Now some of her most ardent supporters suggest this is the moment for Haley to restart her campaign as a credible alternative to a convicted felon as the GOP nominee.

“I would love it if he [Trump] would step aside,” said Alissa Baker, who served on the Women for Haley committee. “My hope is … he would say, ‘I’m going to step aside for the good of the country.’ And that she would unsuspend her campaign and run again because I do think that she has the right solutions for us. I think that she was the best candidate in the field.”

The X account of the former ambassador to the United Nations has, instead, kept quiet and reposted tidbits focused on her trip to Israel.

“After eight months, 125 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 8 of them are American. There shouldn’t be a day that goes by that we don’t talk about them,” Haley posted, completely ignoring the Trump verdict.

This is a notable silence from the onetime ambassador, who spent much of her presidential campaign warning of the “chaos” of a second Trump presidency.

“The chaos that surrounds him is bad enough,” her campaign cautioned in a 30-second ad released in mid-February.

But as Trump’s legal affairs reached their nadir with the guilty verdict, Haley remained mum.

A spokesperson for the former presidential candidate did not respond to a Washington Examiner request for comment.

In contrast, when Trump was found liable for defaming and sexually assaulting writer E. Jean Carroll, Haley was unequivocal.

“I absolutely trust the jury,” she told NBC’s Meet the Press.

Presently, Haley has not revealed whether she would relaunch her campaign.

“I know Nikki Haley is a loyal Republican that decided to vote her conscience,” said Robert Schwartz, the executive director of the Haley Voters Working Group. “I don’t know how Trump’s conviction impacts her personal thinking.”

Schwartz remains skeptical that Haley could announce a surprise relaunch of her presidential campaign now that Trump is a convicted felon.

“Given the reaction among Republicans, and some of them are rallying around Trump, I think it’s extremely unlikely that there would be any kind of change in the Republican approach to this election. They’ve chosen to make their bed with Trump,” he said.

Yet, more than two months after dropping out of the 2024 race, the former ambassador pulls in double digits in state presidential primaries.

Those voters could hamper Trump’s campaign in November if they refuse to support him in November by voting for a third-party candidate, staying home, or holding their nose to vote for Biden.

For the most part, though, Republicans have condemned the Trump verdict as election interference, and the few who have called for caution have been met with anger.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan was warned that his senatorial bid was over by Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita when he asked the public to respect the verdict.

“You just ended your campaign,” LaCivita said on social media.

Other Republicans who are jockeying for the role as Trump’s running mate rushed to defend him against the verdict. “This verdict is a travesty of justice,” said Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), the wealthy North Dakota chief executive.

The former president did not appear to give any likelihood he would step away from the nomination during a free-wheeling speech he held at Trump Tower on Friday morning. Instead, he slammed the trial as “rigged” and Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the case, as a “tyrant.”

One Republican, billionaire Gristedes CEO John Catsimatidis, suggested Haley could be better off as Trump’s vice presidential pick.

Trump “asked everybody their opinion of who should be vice president … a lot of people picked Nikki Haley,” Catsimatidis told 77 WABC Radio host Rita Cosby after he attended a Trump fundraiser following the guilty verdict.

“A lot of people said, ‘I hate Nikki Haley, but John Kennedy hated Lyndon Baines Johnson, and he got elected because he picked Lyndon Baines Johnson.’ A lot of people said to Trump, ‘We don’t like Nikki Haley, but she might make the difference,’” Catsimatidis said.

The former president previously said that Haley was not under consideration to join his campaign, but after she said she would vote for him, he appeared to change his thinking.

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“Well, I think she’s going to be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” Trump said last week. “I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form, absolutely.”

Biden’s campaign has repeatedly signaled it would aggressively court Haley voters put off by Trump. Even after Haley said she would vote for Trump, the campaign was huddling with Haley supporters in a meeting Schwartz helped to organize.

But Republican strategist Brian Seitchik cautioned against the Trump campaign relying on wooing back Haley supporters after the guilty verdict.

“Those Haley voters never really felt like Trump voters anyway,” Seitchik said. “Certainly a percentage of them were going to come home at the end of the day, but a lot of them seemed like they were going to vote third party or just not vote. So I don’t think the key here is Haley voters.”