Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley offered her mild criticism of the now-infamous July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a Tuesday interview on “Today,” but she wasn’t so quick to throw her former boss under the bus.
When “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie pressed Haley on whether she agrees with the President that his now-infamous July call was “perfect,” the former UN ambassador said that the message of the call was “not a good practice” before quickly jumping in to defend Trump.
“I think it’s never a good practice for us to ask a foreign country to investigate an American. It’s just not a good practice,” Haley said, before arguing that there were no insistence nor demands on that call. “It is a conversation between two presidents that’s casual in nature. And, you know, it’s just hard to find anywhere that the president of Ukraine would’ve thought funds were being held and he had to do this.”
When Guthrie pointed out that the former UN ambassador was one of the leading voices on behalf of Ukraine against Russian aggression, and that the Ukraine knows that the funding of its military is “hanging over their heads,” Haley once again came to Trump’s defense by arguing that he’s “been very strong for Ukraine by giving anti-tank missiles, by going against Russia, holding the sanctions.”
Guthrie then abruptly cut Haley off to mention that the aid was held up and that the situation was not “hypothetical.” Haley responded by saying that the aid was eventually released.
Pressed by Guthrie on how asking a foreign country to investigate a political rival is putting “America first” — a phrase that Haley wrote in her resignation letter — Haley dodged the question.
“Ukraine has always been an issue with political corruption,” Haley said. “That was the case that we always knew – that there was corruption.”
Guthrie again pressed Haley, pointing out that “corruption here has to do with Joe Biden” and the DNC server conspiracy. Haley responded by arguing that the “real question” is Biden’s conduct.
“An American should want to know the answer of: Did Biden pressure the prosecutor to do what he did?” Haley said. “I think there’s a real question there. You could question the President, but you also have to question what Biden did.”
Haley went on to reiterate her argument that the “same way you’re looking at the President, you have to look at Biden” and that Trump “had stronger policy on Ukraine than President Obama did.”
Haley concluded her interview by saying that she never doubted Trump’s truthfulness and “whether he could handle the job.”
“In every instance that I dealt with him, he was truthful, he listened and he was great to work with,” Haley said.
Watch Haley’s remarks on the Ukraine call starting at the 1:40 mark:
