Haley Campaign Press Release - Haley Criticizes Trump on Russia, TikTok, Social Security, and More

COLUMBIA, S.C.— During a town hall with Fox News' John Roberts, Nikki Haley criticized Donald Trump for siding with Vladimir Putin, failing to ban TikTok, and refusing to lift a finger to save Social Security for future generations. Finally, Haley rejected the toxicity from both parties and called for uniting Americans and bringing out the best in people.

Haley on Russia…

"We have to remember Russia is not our friend. If Putin's mouth is open he is lying, and we need to be aware of that. And I think that's why it was so damaging when Trump said that he would choose Putin and actually encourage Putin to invade NATO allies instead of standing with our allies that stood with us at 9-11. Putin knows exactly what he did with Navalny. You look at that situation, this is what he always does. He murders his political opponents, he arrests American journalists and holds them hostage, and he has made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy America. And so the best thing we can do with Russia is let them know we're on to them and make sure that they know we'll hold them to account on anything they do, and that includes hurting our allies."

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"I will absolutely put the hammer on our NATO countries that they do have to carry their weight. But you do that behind closed doors. You do that and let them know that the United States is not going to carry the burden. But you don't do it in the eyes of our enemies. Right now, NATO has been a 75-year success story…. We should make sure we tell our partners it's in their best interest and in the Alliance's best interest to pull their own weight and we should make them do that. But there's a way to do it the right way and there's a way to do it the wrong way, and the way Trump did it by saying he was going to encourage Putin to invade our allies—that's the wrong way and it makes the situation much more dangerous."

Haley on banning TikTok…

President Trump said he would ban TikTok and then when President Xi asked him not to, that fell to the wayside. We should have banned it from the very beginning. It's incredibly dangerous and even if it is helpful in elections. I think that the tone at the top and the leadership of what you show matters. If I were to go and jump on TikTok or Republicans were to jump on TikTok, that's not showing anyone why they shouldn't be on it. What everybody needs to know is China is controlling all of that. And if you want to know how it affects you. Just imagine by having that app on your phone, China can now see your finances. They can now see who your contacts are. They can see what you click on, why you click on it, and how it affects you. They can impact what you see, and they can impact what you hear. That is the dangerous part of TikTok."

Haley on protecting Social Security….

"Once again, Trump is lying about my record. And I will say this, if you have to lie to win, you don't deserve to win… We also have to acknowledge some hard truths. Social Security will go bankrupt in 10 years. Medicare will go bankrupt in eight. Putting our head in the sand is not going to fix that problem. Donald Trump has said he's not going to touch it. Joe Biden said he's not going to touch it. You know what that does? When they leave office, that's a 24% cut for everybody and their benefits. That is unacceptable.

"The accountant in me says you get in front of an issue. So the first thing we need to do is tell everybody, if you are invested in the system, if you are looking to get something, we're not touching you. America should keep her promises. And we're going to keep that promise to you. But the way we deal with those is we go to those like my kids in their twenties, and we tell them that coming into the system, we're going to have to change the rules for them. We'll have to change the retirement age to reflect life expectancy for them. Instead of cost of living increases, we'll do increases based on inflation. We'll cap the benefits on the mega wealthy, and we'll expand Medicare Advantage plans, which seniors love, that create more competition. Once we do that, not only can we make sure that you have what you're expecting, but we can also make sure our kids have something so that when their time comes, they've got something there for them."

Haley on unifying our country…

"This is not normal to have this much chaos around us. It is not normal to have this much anger around us. It's not normal to have this much division around us. You should be able to have dinner with your family without an argument. You should be able to go to work and say what you want without feeling like you're going to be hurting your job for it. We need to bring civility back, and you can be tough and strong without being hateful.

"And we did that in South Carolina when we were brought to our knees because nine amazing souls were murdered in a church and every other city was going up in flames. What did we do? We didn't go and have everything burn down. We didn't have riots, we had vigils. We didn't have protests, we had prayer. And we came together as South Carolinians, and we said that we're better than this. The difference with the tone at the top, in that situation where our state could have fallen apart, my job wasn't to judge either side. My job wasn't to decide who was good and who was bad, who was right and who was wrong. My job as a leader was to pull out the best in people and get them to see the way forward. That's what we need in a president, is someone who's not gonna divide people, but pull out the best in people so that they want to be patriotic, they want to love America, and they want to take care of each other again."