Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley believes the United States should continue to aid Ukraine in its war with Russia but not write “blank checks,” asserting it is “a war about freedom.”
“We have the backs of our friends, and we hold our enemies to account,” Haley told Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody in an interview released Thursday night. “Whether it’s Ukraine or Israel, we take care of them because it’s about freedom, and we can never stop fighting for freedom.”
Brody then asked Haley where she stands on monetary and military aid to Ukraine. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, asserted that President Joe Biden mismanaged U.S. aid efforts during the early stages of the war.
“Biden was slow to the take. He should have given Ukraine what they needed right when this started, and we’d be in a totally different place right now,” Haley said. “This isn’t a war about Ukraine, this is a war about freedom.”
Haley added:
I don’t think we need to put troops on the ground. I don’t think we need to write ’em blank checks, but they have the passion to fight for their own freedom. Give them the ammunition to do it, get with our NATO allies, and say, ‘Hey we’re not the only ones; you’ve gotta do it too,’ and let them win this fight.
Haley then asserted that if Ukraine proves victorious, Russia, Iran, and China would be more apprehensive to conflict with the United States. Conversely, she forecasts Russian invasions of the Baltics and Poland if Ukraine topples, leading to a subsequent world war.
Haley announced her candidacy with an ad on Tuesday and an official launch event on Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina, making her the second candidate in the race along with former President Donald J. Trump.
After the launch event, she caught up with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle for an interview and said she welcomes a crowded primary field.
“I got in because it doesn’t matter who else gets in. I’m not going to wait because I know my mission,” Haley said in the interview conducted on her campaign stage. “My mission is to make sure we go defeat this socialism and get rid of the defeatism we’re seeing in this country.”
A number of other Republicans, including former Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, among others, are either reportedly considering jumping into the race or have been discussed as legitimate potential candidates.