Nikki Haley says Trump in mental 'decline,' claims 'he's not at the same level' as 2016
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Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says former President Donald Trump is in mental "decline" and is no longer as competent as he was in 2016.
Haley made the statement during a Sunday morning appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," with host Margaret Brennan. Brennan asked Haley whether she saw evidence of Trump declining mentally when she served in his cabinet as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
"If you look recently there have been multiple things," Haley said. "He claimed Joe Biden was gonna get us into World War II. I'm assuming he meant World War III. He said he ran against President Obama. He never ran against President Obama."
"Don't be surprised. If you have somebody that's 80 in office. Their mental stability is going to continue to decline. That's just human nature," Haley said. "If you look at Joe Biden, he's very different than he was two years ago. Are we really going to go into a situation where we have wars around the world, and we're trying to prevent war, and we're gonna have someone who we can or can't be sure is gonna get confused?"
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"It's a real issue. It's not being disrespectful, it's just a fact," she added.
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, speaks with Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Ge
Haley went on to say that when she served in Trump's Cabinet, she repeatedly let him know if she thought what he was doing was wrong.
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"He's just not at the same level he was at 2016, and I think we're seeing some of that decline," she said.
Haley is rallying support in New Hampshire and South Carolina coming off a third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses earlier this month. Trump won the caucuses with an overwhelming lead over any of the candidates, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Haley has argued that Iowa had poor turnout due to record low temperatures, with much of the state having been in below-zero weather on Election Day.
"You look at Iowa. I mean President Trump won a state of three million people with 56,000 votes. We had a very low turnout in Iowa. We’re going to have a really good turnout in New Hampshire," Haley told reporters on Friday.
Trump defended himself during a rally with supporters in New Hampshire this weekend, arguing he is more mentally fit than ever.
"I don't mind being 80, but I'm 77, that's a big difference," he said. "I feel my mind is stronger now than it was 25 years ago."