Former President Donald Trump mocked fellow Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in a speech Saturday, asking her why she isn’t campaigning even though her husband is deployed.
Michael Haley, a member of the South Carolina Army National Guard, began a year-long deployment to Africa in June. He serves on the staff of the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade.
Trump appeared unaware of his location when he began questioning his whereabouts during a campaign stop in Conway, South Carolina, on Saturday.
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The former president began his tirade by calling Haley “bird brain.”
Former President Trump mocked Nikki Haley by asking her where her deployed husband was Saturday. (Getty Images)
President Trump said, “Birdbrain loves mass exile,” drawing laughter from the audience. “She has nothing good about her.”
President Trump quoted Haley as saying, “‘I will never disagree with President Trump. He’s a great president, the greatest president of my lifetime.'” She said, “I’ll never be able to compete with him.”
“Then she came to see me at Mar-a-Lago…’Sir, I will never go against you.’ She brought her husband.”
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Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures to the audience as he leaves the “Get Out The Vote” rally at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, on Saturday. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The Trump Organization founder then turned his attention to Haley’s spouse.
“Where is her husband?” Trump asked. “Where is he? He’s gone. He knew, he knew.”
Haley didn’t mince words when she hit back at Trump in a social media post two hours later.
The former South Carolina governor wrote to X, “Michael is being sent to serve our country and that’s something you all know nothing about.”
Then-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley attends the inaugural prayer service at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, South Carolina with her husband Michael on January 14, 2015. (Kim Kim Foster-Tobin/State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/File)
“A person who continues to disrespect the sacrifices of military families is not qualified to be commander in chief.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump and Haley campaigns for comment, but did not receive a response.
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