Haley slams Trump after he hit her over absence of deployed husband

GOP presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley went after her campaign rival former President Trump over comments he made about her military husband who is deployed overseas.

“Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about,” Haley said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief.”

Haley was responding to comments that the former president made at a rally in her home state Saturday.

“Where’s her husband?” Trump said. “‘Oh, he’s away, he’s away.’ What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone.”

Haley’s husband, Maj. Michael Haley, was deployed to Africa in June of last year with the South Carolina Army National Guard. She wished him farewell in a ceremony in mid-June for about 200 soldiers at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston.

“He’s always been my rock,” Haley said following the ceremony. “We have both lived a life of service, and so when he goes off to deploy, my support is completely with him. If I happen to be running for president, his support is completely with me.” 

“We will continue to stay in touch as best we can,” she added. 

Haley and her husband have been married for over 25 years, and he had been a common presence at her rallies during her candidacy. The former United Nations ambassador frequently talked about being a military wife, with her husband originally becoming a part of the National Guard in the mid-2000s. He was first deployed overseas in Haley’s first term as the Palmetto State governor.