Donald Trump hints he could bring Nikki Haley onto his ‘team’ despite ‘nasty’ campaign and reveals VP pick will be ‘secret’ until the convention

Former President Donald Trump called Nikki Haley a “capable individual” who would be part of his “team” in his first comments since her surprise revelation that she will vote for him.

On a day when Trump wanted to demonstrate the expansion of his political coalition at a rally in the Bronx, Trump spoke about Haley, whom he had ridiculed during the campaign as a “bird brain.”

“Well, I think she’s joining our team because we have a lot of the same ideas and the same thoughts,” Trump said. told News 12.

“I appreciated what she said. You know, we had a bad campaign. It was pretty nasty. But she is a very capable person, and I’m sure she will join our team in some form. Absolutely,” Trump said.

Trump spoke on a day in which he praised “unity” in the party, with almost all of his main rivals rallying behind him, despite some of them harshly criticizing his policy views and character.

That includes Haley’s previous comments about politicians bowing to pressure.

“Many of the same politicians who now publicly embrace Trump are privately afraid of him,” she said in February in Greenville, South Carolina. ‘They know what a disaster he has been and will continue to be for our party. They’re just too scared to say it out loud.”

“Well, I’m not afraid to say the hard truths out loud. I don’t feel the need to kiss the ring. I don’t fear Trump’s retaliation. I don’t look for anything from him.’

Trump did not name Haley when asked to name three top choices as his running mate, although he did mention other former critics.

“We have so many, I don’t want to do that,” Trump said, initially brushing off the question. He mentioned Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator JD Vance and Representative Elise Stefanik

‘Elise does a fantastic job. But I could go on for a long time. We have a lot of people who would really do a fantastic job.”

Halely announced Wednesday that she would vote for Trump. She said in February: ‘I have no desire to kiss the ring’

Trump says he plans to win New York and polls show higher support among Black and Hispanic voters than in 2016

Trump had ridiculed Carson in 2016 for his origin story and then installed him in the Cabinet. He insulted Rubio as “little Marco” when they clashed. “My god, what an idiot,” Vance tweeted in 2016, though he is now a loyal supporter who organizes fundraising events for Trump in Silicon Valley. Stefanik once denounced Trump’s comments about Muslims in the 2016 campaign, but this week filed an ethics complaint against the judge who oversaw the Stormy Daniels trial.

Haley was Trump’s last Republican rival in 2024, and she has drawn millions of “zombie” votes even after withdrawing from the race, giving Trump an incentive to try to woo her supporters.

She urged him to do so on Wednesday in her comments to the Hudson Institute, which she later posted herself.

“I don’t know what Nikki’s calculations are. I hope she doesn’t think about being his vice president,” said former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who revealed himself in a book as a Trump critic after leaving the government. CNN.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who denounced Trump’s actions on January 6 and ended his own presidential campaign before Iowa, has said he will not support Trump but declined to answer questions about whether he would rely on him to vote.

Trump stuck to his message in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. “I appreciate what she said,” Trump said, saying he was uniting the party.