Nikki Haley broke with former President Trump's stance on IVF treatment but said she would still be “on standby” to campaign for the Republican candidate.
Haley, who was the last candidate to drop out of the Republican presidential race before Trump became the nominee, said during an appearance on CBS' “Face the Nation” on Sunday that she spoke with Trump in June and that “he knows I'm ready to campaign whenever he needs me.”
Haley said “there's a lot at stake” in this election with two administrations seeking reelection. Her main concerns are children, the rising cost of living and housing, a 20 percent increase in prices, safety due to immigration and “foreign forces coming in and threats that we may face,” and energy.
“And there's just so much going on,” Haley told CBS host Margaret Brennan. “For me, the stark contrast between the Trump administration and the Harris administration is what made me decide, 'Yes, I'm going to vote with Trump and I'm going to speak at the convention,' and so I did.”
Early voting means “election season” is just around the corner.
Nikki Haley said she was “on standby” to campaign for her former rival, Trump. (Daniel Chen/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Haley said she had not been approached by Trump's team to work on the campaign trail or receive advice on how to prepare for the debate.
“Whatever he decides to do with his campaign, that's up to him. But when I called him in June, I told him I was rooting for him. I think our teams have had some discussions, but as of now, he hasn't asked me to do anything. But if he asks, I'd be happy to help.”
Haley said that while she fully supports President Trump, she opposes his recent pledge to require the government or insurance companies to cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for women.
“This is not a policy I support, just like Senator Kamala Harris's policies to repeal private health insurance and Medicare for All,” Haley said.
Brennan interjected that Trump was the leader of the Republican Party, but Haley countered, “We have to talk about the leader of the Democratic Party as well.”
“When we talk about Medicare for All and we talk about eliminating private health insurance, it's the same as Canada. We should consider a socialist health care system,” Haley said. “We never want to get to that stage, because then you lose access to IVF and other treatments, chemotherapy and other treatments.”
Haley said both of her children were born as a result of fertility treatments.
Former President Donald Trump departs from a campaign event at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on September 7, 2024. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“We want to make sure that option is available to everyone, but the way to do that is not to mandate insurance. Instead, do everything we can to make insurance available and affordable. And that means regulations,” Haley added. “Kamala and Biden put a lot of regulations on a lot of things. Trump rolled back those regulations, so we need to have policy conversations that are bigger than short speeches. I think this election has become about short speeches, but I think we have to get to the meat of it.”
Former presidential candidate Nikki Haley gets new job
Brennan noted that a CBS poll showed that with Biden dropping out of the race and Vice President Harris now the clear Democratic presidential nominee, Trump has a double-digit lead among female voters. Brennan asked Haley whether Trump's running mate, Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, was fueling division after resurfaced comments last week in which he emphasized that the head of the nation's most powerful teachers union does not have children of his own.
Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) speaks in front of a border wall with Mexico in San Diego, California, on September 6, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Vance's criticism was directed at American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten at a forum hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue while he was running for Senate in October 2021. In the resurfaced video, Vance said, “If you want to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, brainwash her own and leave us alone.”
“He continues to make statements that are clearly derogatory to women,” Brennan told Haley on Sunday. “Will that be hurtful to female voters?”
“It's not helpful. It's not helpful,” Haley responded. “You either look at the style or you look at the content, and as a voter I choose to look at the content,” she added.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“The content is lower taxes, lower housing affordability, immigration, national security. That's the content,” Haley elaborated. “The style is that it's not helpful to talk about whether women should have kids. It's not helpful to talk about personality and all that stuff. I've said that before and I continue to say to Republicans, 'Stop it.' It's not helpful. If you're going to talk about things, stick to policy. The American people are smart. They don't need all this other noise to distract them.”
