Scaramucci on Trump threat to Haley donors: ‘She’s hurting him’

Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director under former President Donald Trump, said Thursday that Trump is threatening potential donors to Republican front-runner Nikki Haley. He said it was because he knew she was hurting his campaign.

Scaramucci said in an interview on “CNN This Morning” that Trump's threats make it clear that Haley is effectively mocking the former president and hurting him in the long run.

“Oh, she's hurting him. I mean, we need to look at the claims that she's making against him, and then the exit polls of voters who say they don't support Donald Trump. We also need to consider it,” Scaramucci said. “And she's hurting him. He knows she's hurting him.”

Scaramucci, who was in office for just 10 days in the Trump administration in 2017, said Trump won Iowa and New Hampshire in the first two nomination contests in 2024, but a large percentage of voters in 2024 did not want to vote for the former president. He pointed out that the respondents said they would not vote for the The general election is bad news for him.

“If you look at the results in New Hampshire, if you're on his campaign, you can pretend like it was great, but it's actually not that great. He got nearly 50 percent of the vote, which means 50 percent of Republicans really don't want him, but exit polls show that Haley won in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He said it's clear that many voters don't think so.

Scaramucci said that historically, partisan voters refusing to vote for a final candidate, even if the margin is small, could mean problems for a candidate's long-term prospects. He said there is.

“You know, this killed Hillary Clinton in 2016 with Bernie Sanders voters, and of course, Barack Obama won 75 percent of Hillary Clinton voters in 2008. So this is really hurting Donald Trump.'' He knows that, and that's why he's so frustrated and making these threats and vitriol,'' Scaramucci added.

President Trump stepped up his attacks on Haley on Wednesday, warning that anyone who donates to her campaign will be “forever banned from the MAGA camp.”

In recent weeks, establishment Republicans, including some who were previously critical of the former president, have thrown their weight behind Trump.

Haley is the last major Republican primary candidate to run against Trump. According to The Hill and Decision Desk's National Republican Primary Poll average, Trump leads Haley by 55.9 points, with 68.2% approval rating and 12.3% for Haley.