Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) pushed back on reports that former President Trump mixed up his GOP presidential primary rival Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), according to an NBC News report.
“The reality is Nikki Haley is relying on Democrats, just like Nancy Pelosi, to try to have a desperate showing,” Stefanik said.
The New York congresswoman has endorsed Trump in his 2024 attempt to clinch the presidency. She also has not ruled out being his running mate in this year’s election.
“Well, I, of course, would be honored to serve in any capacity in a Trump administration. I’m proud to be the first member of Congress to endorse his reelection. I’m proud to be a strong supporter of President Trump, and he’s going to win this November,” Stefanik said.
Trump appeared to mix up Haley and Pelosi at a rally in New Hampshire Friday when talking about the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“By the way, they never report the crowd on Jan. 6. You know Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know, they — do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it,” Trump claimed. “Because of lots of things … like Nikki Haley is in charge of security — we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people.”
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In the same interview in which she discussed being Trump’s vice presidential pick, Stefanik did not say if she had talked about being vice president with Trump.
“I’m not going to get into the content of my conversation with President Trump. I talk to him frequently. We’ve been focused on winning,” Stefanik said. “There’s so much work to do as the House Republican Conference chair, as the representative for New York’s 21st Congressional District.”
“We need to make sure that President Trump is in the strongest position to win in the general election. That’s what I’ve been focused on, and that’s what I’m going to remain focused on,” she added.