Haley Campaign Press Release - Haley On The Today Show: Trump Sides With Thug Putin

2 years into the Ukraine war, the world needs a leader with moral clarity

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — As the world marks two years since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Nikki Haley showed the country what a leader with moral clarity looks like. In an interview with NBC's The Today Show, she criticized Donald Trump for siding with a brutal thug and Joe Biden for failing to explain to the American people why supporting Ukraine matters.

Watch the full video here:

Haley on Donald Trump's obsession with Vladimir Putin…

"It wasn't that he refused to condemn, he went further than that. In South Carolina, he gave a speech, and he said he would actually encourage Putin to invade our allies. Think about that – that means he's siding with a dictator who kills his political opponents. He's siding with a tyrant who arrests American journalists and holds them hostage. He's siding with a thug who's made no bones about the fact that he wants to destroy America.

"And here you have Ukraine, the fact that half a million people have died or been wounded because Putin invaded Ukraine, this is the time that America needs to understand that Putin has made it very clear that once he takes Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. If that happens, that puts America at war. We are trying to prevent war. And when Trump went and said that he wanted Putin to invade our allies? That immediately made our allies vulnerable. It emboldened Putin, which is why he's now putting troops around the Baltic countries, and it puts all of our military men and women in those areas at risk."

Haley on Washington's lies to the American people…

"There should be a vote for aid on Ukraine. We should give them the equipment and ammunition they need to win. But you should also acknowledge where the fault lies. Yes, it lies in the fact that Trump is retreating and getting weak in the knees when it comes to Putin, but it should also fall on the fact that Biden needs to tell the American people why they need to care about Ukraine. There has been a lack of communication from the President …

"Joe Biden needs to explain to people why Ukraine matters. The same way he needs to explain why Israel matters. The same way he needs to explain why America can never be so arrogant to think we don't need friends. Yes, they should have a vote on Ukraine; yes, they should have a vote on Israel; yes they should have a vote on the border. And they should not, in any way, lie to the American people to make them think they have to pick either Ukraine and Israel or the border. If we supported Ukraine, Israel, and secured the border, that's less than 20 percent of Biden's green subsidies. We need to start telling the American people the truth, so they know exactly what the decisions are in front of us."