Nikki Haley questions Donald Trump’s mental fitness after he appears to confuse her with Nancy Pelosi
- At a campaign event, the ex-US president said Haley was ‘in charge of security’ during the Capitol attack, when she was not holding office at the time
- Haley, 52, has said political candidates over 75 should have to pass a test of mental competency – Trump is 77
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley turned a spotlight on Donald Trump’s mental fitness on Saturday, after the former US president falsely accused her of failing to stop the violent assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump, speaking Friday at a campaign event days ahead of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary election, appeared to confuse Haley with then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Referring to the January 6 insurrection by a mob of his supporters, Trump, after saying his rival’s name repeatedly, told a crowd: “Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people – soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want – they turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that.”
Haley, Trump’s top rival in the New Hampshire contest, pointed out not only was she not in charge of security at the Capitol, she was not even in office at the time.
“They’re saying he got confused, he was talking about something else,” the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor said at a New Hampshire rally.
“The concern I have is, I’m not saying anything derogatory, but when you’re dealing with the pressures of a presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this.”
