EXCLUSIVE — Nikki Haley: ‘Religious Freedom Is Under Attack’ Worldwide

Religious freedom is “under attack” across the globe, particularly with President Biden at the helm, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told Breitbart News Saturday, explaining what she would do as President of the United States to strengthen it.

“It’s hard to find anything that has progressed since Biden came in office,” Haley said, wishing the audience a Happy Passover and a Happy Easter before delving into the issue.

“Religious freedom is under attack around the world. You see more physical attacks on Christians and Jews in Europe, Africa, [and] Middle East,” she said. “You see genocide against Muslims in China. All of it’s unacceptable, and religious freedom has always been a fundamental to — it has always been fundamental to who we are as Americans.”

Haley, who jumped into the 2024 presidential ring earlier this year, said Americans should view religious freedom as a “universal value” that needs to remain at the forefront. Further, she added that many of the “broader strategic challenges” are “connected to religious freedom when you look at the biggest offenders.”

“You mentioned China and Iran. I mean, they have no religious freedom. You look at what China’s doing to the Uyghurs. Russia isn’t much better. And if a government doesn’t allow religious freedom, it’s always very telling on how they see human rights, and you can always tell that there’ll be other trouble in other areas,” she said, emphasizing that the fight for religious freedom is a “core to who we are as Americans.”

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When asked how a Haley administration would differ from the Biden administration regarding international religious freedom, the GOP presidential candidate pointed to her experience as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

“Very much doing what I did at the U.N.,” she said. “We went, and we said what America was for and what America was against. I didn’t care if they didn’t like me, but I wanted them to trust America.”

“When you go and let countries know what you expect of them, it creates a huge opportunity for us to start really leading again,” she said, providing one example of the U.S. giving $46 billion in foreign aid last year to Pakistan — a country which “harbored terrorists that tried to kill our soldiers.”

“We’re giving it to Iraq … we gave it to, you know, Zimbabwe, the most anti-American African country there is. We gave it to Belarus, who’s helping Russia defeat Ukraine. We’ve given foreign aid to Communist Cuba, who we named as a state sponsor of terrorism, and yet we’re giving foreign aid to China,” she said. “That makes us look so weak.”

Haley said she told President Trump, “You can’t buy friends. You can’t pay off enemies,” in the context of U.S. foreign aid.

“Stop giving money to countries that hate America. That’s the first thing,” she said, adding that it is absolutely necessary to let our enemies know when they cross the line.

“When Russia hit our U.S. drone a couple of weeks ago what did we do? Absolutely nothing. What should we have done? Put two drones back up there, a fighter jet, and put our naval fleet back in the Black Sea. It never should have been taken out in the first place. That’s what puts our enemies on their heels. That’s what lets them know we’re serious. That’s what deters them.” she said.

“And then we build a strong military,” Haley said, adding that a “strong military doesn’t start wars. A strong military prevents wars.”

“When we do that and when we show we’re prepared to lead, you will find a world” that is “more safe, not less safe,” she added.

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.