Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday defended taking donor money from establishment figures, even touting her endorsement from the Koch-linked Americans for Prosperity Action — a subject of controversy as of late.
She said during the NewsNation debate:
I have been a conservative fighter. All my life. I was a Tea Party candidate when I became governor. We opposed every single corporate bailout we possibly could. We passed tort reform. We passed one of the toughest illegal immigration laws in the country. We passed pro-life bills. We moved in unemployment from 11 percent to three percent.
“We took on the unions and we took on Obama when it came to the unions, to Syrian refugees and everything in between. And so I’ve had a fight,” she said, before defending her support from the corporate world.
“When it comes to these corporate people that want to suddenly support us, we’ll take it,” she said, claiming that she does not ask these donors what their policies are.
“They asked me what my policies are, and I tell them what it is. Sometimes they agree with me, sometimes they don’t, some don’t like how tough I am on China. Some don’t like the fact that I’ve signed pro-life bills. Some don’t like the fact that I may oppose corporate bailouts. That doesn’t matter. That’s who I am,” she claimed, touting her endorsement from Americans for Prosperity and later adding that her competitors are “just jealous.”
Indeed, Nikki Haley has come under fire over the past few weeks for a rising number of establishment figures supporting her and viewing her as the best alternative to former President Donald Trump, as Breitbart News reported.
Most recently, the DeSantis campaign slammed Haley after a PAC supporting her, super PAC SFA Fund Inc., took $250,000 from leftist megadonor Reid Hoffman.