Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley dismissed former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s comments caught on hot mic that she’ll be ‘smoked’ by former President Donald Trump, calling them Thursday ‘not a surprise.’
In the moments before Christie dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday night in New Hampshire, the livestream picked up a conversation the 2024 hopeful was having with his New Hampshire campaign chair Wayne MacDonald and a woman.
Christie is heard saying about Haley: ‘And she’s going to get smoked, and you and I both know this, she’s not up to this,’ adding that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another 2024, called the former governor and sounded ‘petrified.’
‘Look, it is not a surprise,’ Haley said Thursday morning on Fox & Friends. ‘These fellas have been talking like that from the beginning, when it was 14 candidate and I was at 2 percent.’
‘For us, it’s always been slow and steady wins the race. It’s the people that decide,’ the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor added.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley dismissed former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s comments caught on hot mic that she’ll be ‘smoked’ by former President Donald Trump , Shape Kapseln Erfahrungen calling them Thursday ‘not a surprise’
In the moments before Christie dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday night in New Hampshire (pictured), the livestream picked up a conversation where he was talking trash on both Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
She pointed out that she’s spent 11 months campaigning all over the country.
‘We’ve spent our money right,’ she added. ‘And we’ve focused on relationaships with people on the ground and gaining their trust.’
During Wednesday night’s Republican debate, she hit DeSantis – the only other candidate to appear on the debate stage – over blowing through $150 million in campaign donations.
‘And that’s why you see this has become a two-person race with me and Donald Trump,’ she continued. ‘And while everybody else wants to discount us, we keep moving and we’re moving for a reason.’
She later told NBC News, ‘I don’t have to convince people he’s wrong becauase nobody in that crowd is asking me about that,’ Haley said of Christie’s diss.
‘I mean, they see, politics is not personal for me. It is for the fellows, it’s not for me,’ she added.
Haley has been polling a strong second in New Hampshire and is battling it out with DeSantis for second place in Iowa, despite the Florida governor focusing more on the Hawkeye State.
Trump continues to be the far and away frontrunner in the race.
Christie also wasn’t focusing on Iowa, where voters tend to be more conservative, and so his exit from the race is unlikely to change the trajectory of the caucuses.
But in New Hampshire, his voters – a majority of whom rank Haley as their second choice – could help the former U.N. ambassador become evenly matched with Trump, who she trails, on average, by 14.3 points.
However is hot mic moment might give them second thoughts.
Christie is first heard commenting that Haley spent $68 million on her campaign, while DeSantis spent $59 million, while the former New Jersey governor had just spent $12 million, noting that he was the one ‘punching above their weight.’
He then talks about how Haley isn’t up to the job and DeSantis is running scared.
MacDonald is heard commenting to Christie that Haley is 20 points behind Trump in New Hampshire, then asking the governor if he believed Trump would win Iowa.
‘Yes,’ Christie replied before revealing his phone conversation with the Florida governor.
MacDonald then said that he expected DeSantis to drop out of the 2024 race after Monday’s caucuses – something the Florida governor has denied multiple times.
The video clip then cut out. The video is no longer posted online.
Moments later, Christie appeared onstage in Windham, New Hampshire and pulled the plug on his presidential bid.
In his exit speech, Christie blasted the ‘smallness of the campaigns who spend more time arguing and worrying about who should get out of the race than they have spent going after the frontrunner.’
He delivered that same message to DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy at last month’s GOP debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Christie ended his Wednesday remarks without endorsing another candidate.
In 2016, Christie pulled out of the presidential race and backed Trump, a decision he now says he regrets.
Trump reacted on Truth Social to Christie dropping out with glee.
‘I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today – I might even get to like him again!’ Trump said.
‘Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: “She’s gonna get smoked…You and I both know it, she’s not up to this,”‘ the ex-president added.
DeSantis reacted to Christie’s hot mic moment by using the opportunity to go after Haley.
Former President Donald Trump reacted to Christie’s announcement that he was dropping out of the presidential campaign with glee, posting on Truth Social ‘I might even get to like him again!’ Trump also pointed out Christie’s hot mic moment
‘I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is “going to get smoked,”‘ the Florida governor posted to X.
Haley called Christie a ‘friend’ in a statement following his campaign suspension.
‘Chris Christie has been a friend for many years. I commend him on a hard-fought campaign,’ Haley said. ‘Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America.’
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who is backing Haley, had been pushing Christie to drop out of the race to give the former South Carolina governor a clear path to become Trump’s top nemesis.
Sununu has long said that once candidates know there’s no path to the nomination they should bail on the race so one of them can go head-to-head against Trump, who is ahead nationally by around 50 points.
IowaFloridaNikki HaleyRon DeSantis