Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, after casting her ballot in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary election in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, US, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. The South Carolina primary is Nikki Haley's last best shot to prove that she has the momentum to challenge frontrunner Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. Photographer: Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg Trump’s outreach on Saturday after he was wounded in an assassination attempt is seen by those around him as an effort to unify the party, the people said, who were granted anonymity to disclose a private conversation. The former president is seizing on the outpouring of goodwill to make requests of people who may have otherwise balked.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor who came in second to Trump during the GOP primary this year, is slated to speak Tuesday, according to other people familiar with the plans.
Last week, she said that she was releasing her delegates and encouraging them to support the former president. Haley called the convention a “time for Republican unity” and cast her decision as important to denying President Joe Biden another term in the White House.
Haley ended her own run for the Republican presidential nomination in March after a poor performance in Super Tuesday contests, becoming the last major rival to Trump to exit the primary.
She served as an ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, and her campaign leaned heavily into her foreign policy experience and her pledge to be a careful steward of the federal budget.
But the contest between she and Trump turned increasingly bitter during the primary cycle. She questioned Trump and Biden’s mental acuity, raising questions about their age, and Trump badgered her with a derisive nickname.