Campaign

Trump claims Sununu ‘didn’t have the guts’ to run for president

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Concord, N.H., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Former President Trump took a swing at New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) during a rally in Granite State Friday, claiming he “didn’t have the guts” to run for president.

“You have a governor, who… honestly, he’s terrible, this guy. I watch him, he’s all over the place,” Trump told the crowd in Concord, N.H. “You know, he ran for president, you know that, he didn’t announce it ’cause he didn’t have the guts, right?’”

“But he ran for president and … his numbers were in the vicinity of Asa Hutchinson,”he added, referring to the former Arkansas governor who suspended his White House bid Tuesday.

The former president continued to mock Sununu, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump since he endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the race last month, claiming he went on “every show” just to announce he wasn’t running in the end.

“He thinks he’s hot stuff. He’s nothing,” the former president continued, calling the governor “bad news.”

“He ran so much that people realized they don’t like him very much,” he added. “It was crazy. And then he decided not to run.”

Sununu announced that he would not run for president back in June.

Turning his ire to Haley Friday, Trump argued the governor was backing a candidate who wasn’t “capable” of doing the job. He said she wasn’t “tough enough,” “smart enough” or “respected enough” to win the GOP nomination.

He later took one more jab at Sununu, telling rallygoers: “Your governor sucks.”

Despite Trump’s attacks, the New Hampshire governor vowed earlier this week to support the eventual GOP nominee, whether it is Haley or not.

“Yeah, I’m gonna support the Republican nominee. Absolutely. Yeah, like that shouldn’t shock anybody,” he said Wednesday. “That shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody that the Republican governor … is going to end up going against Biden.”

Sununu also pushed back against Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) for backing Trump, reminding him that Haley was the one to appoint him to the Senate when she was governor.

Scott, who suspended his own bid ahead of the Iowa caucuses, traveled with Trump to New Hampshire and formally endorsed him during the rally.

Caroline Vakil contributed reporting.