Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) “very weak” on immigration Wednesday, the morning after she took a veiled shot at his anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Haley criticized some Republicans’ hardline stance on immigration as she delivered the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. She clarified in an interview Wednesday that she was specifically referring to Trump.
“Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk,” she said on NBC’s “Today.”
Trump responded to Haley during an interview on “Fox & Friends” and suggested that she was not under consideration to be his running mate.
“I respond a couple of ways. Number one, she’s very weak on illegal immigration. I’ve known that for a long time. But she’s weak on illegal immigration,” Trump said. “And she certainly has no trouble asking me for campaign contributions. Because over the years, she’s asked me for a hell of a lot of money in campaign contributions. So it’s sort of interesting to hear her.”
By way of clarifying what he meant by “weak on immigration,” Trump said: “I feel very strongly about illegal immigration. She doesn’t.”
President Obama also took multiple thinly-veiled swings at Trump during his address Tuesday.
