Nikki Haley to Speak at Republican National Convention After All
MILWAUKEE — Former U.N. Ambassador and GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is now scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention, sources confirmed to The Well News on Monday.
The addition of Haley to the event’s bill, a week after her office said she hadn’t been invited to the party gathering, is seen as cementing the image of party unity after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump Saturday evening.
There is no word yet on when she will speak nor what other role she might play at the four-day convention.
Last Tuesday, Haley released all 97 delegates she’d garnered in the Republican primaries and encouraged them to vote for Trump at the convention.
In a statement posted to the X social media platform at the time, Haley, who is also a former governor of South Carolina, said “the nominating convention is a time for Republican unity.”
“Joe Biden is not competent to serve a second term and Kamala Harris would be a disaster for America,” she continued. “We need a president who will hold our enemies to account, secure our border, cut our debt and get our economy back on track.”
On Saturday evening, after word of the attempt on Trump’s life spread, Haley again took to X, saying the events that unfolded in Butler, Pennsylvania, “should horrify every freedom loving American.”
“Violence against presidential candidates must never be normalized. We are lifting up Donald Trump, the entire Trump family, and all in attendance in prayer,” Haley wrote.
The Trump campaign has yet to comment on Haley’s inclusion in the program, though it certainly would not have occurred without the presumptive nominee’s approval.
Late Sunday evening, as he flew to Milwaukee from his Bedminster, New Jersey, home, Trump told reporters from the Washington Times and New York Post that the assassination attempt has caused him to begin rewriting the speech he planned to give at the convention.
Assuring the reporters he had a “really good, really tough” speech planned for Thursday night, he said it no longer struck the right tone.
According to investigators, a lone gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, climbed on the roof of a building directly adjacent to Trump’s open-air rally and fired as many as eight rounds, grazing the former president’s ear with one shot, while killing one spectator and critically injuring two others.
“I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is, and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true,” Trump told the reporters aboard his campaign plane.
“Had this not happened, we had a speech that was pretty well set that was extremely tough. Now, we have a speech that is more unifying,” he said.
Reflecting on the events of Saturday evening, Trump admitted “It has had an impact.”
“I mean, I’m supposed to be dead. I’m not supposed to be here,” he said.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
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