Nikki Haley: Trump’s Legal Woes Must Be 'Dealt With' Before Election
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said all of former President Donald Trump’s legal cases should be “dealt with” before the upcoming presidential election so that voters “know what they’re walking into” and cases ultimately aren’t swept under the rug.
“I think all of the cases should be dealt with before November,” Haley said in an interview Thursday with NBC News. “We need to know what’s going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don’t think any of it’s going to get heard.”
Haley, who is Trump’s last remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke one day after the Supreme Court said it will consider whether Trump is immune to prosecution for his actions regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump, who is the current Republican front-runner, also faces a federal indictment in Florida related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. His attorneys said they want that trial pushed back until after the election.
Haley said Trump has the right to defend himself, but that the cases should not be drawn out and must be addressed quickly.
“I think voters are going to want to know what they’re walking into, and if they’re walking into a president who’s still going to have to be in court or if they’re walking into a presidency where he can get rid of a court case. Voters are going to want to know that,” Hayley said.
While Hayley added that no president should be legally immune to anything, and they must “live under laws too,” she has previously said that it would be bad if Trump winds up “sitting in a jail cell.”
“For me, the last thing we need is an 80-year-old president sitting in jail because that’s just going to further divide our country,” she told CNN back in January. “This is no longer about whether he’s innocent or guilty. This is about the fact: How do we bring the country back together?”
She added that that does not mean she would preemptively pardon Trump, like President Gerald Ford did for Richard Nixon. Instead, she thinks “everything needs to play out.”
