CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley’s husband deployed to Africa on Saturday for a year with the South Carolina Army National Guard, an assignment that will encompass most of the rest of his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“It’s always been my rock,” he said after a deployment ceremony for about 200 soldiers at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston. “We’ve both lived a life of service, and so when he goes to deploy, my support is completely with him. If I run for president, his support is completely with me. … We’re going to continue to stand together in touch as we can.”
Maj. Michael Haley is being deployed as a staff officer with the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, which the National Guard says is supporting the Horn of Africa.
The United Nations, where Nikki Haley served as Donald Trump’s ambassador for two years, says the region is facing its worst drought in 40 years, with more than 43.3 million people in need of aid in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, and more than half of the United Nations. those who do not have access to sufficient food.
Last month, a high-level UN conference raised less than $1 billion of the more than $5 billion organizers had hoped for to help more than 30 million people in the Horn of Africa in deal with the climate crisis and mass displacement after years of conflict.
Nikki Haley, who is also a former governor of South Carolina, has been highly critical of President Joe Biden’s performance as commander in chief. She has spoken out against her administration’s efforts to expand diversity in the military, complaining that they weaken the force and make it difficult to recruit, although the Army has said the real problem is that many young they don’t see enlistment as safe or a good career path. .
He has also pledged to cut $46 billion in foreign aid to countries he says “hate America.”
Michael Haley, the candidate’s husband of 26 years, has been a fixture at his wife’s campaign events since she became a candidate for the White House. During its rollout, the campaign said the couple’s college-age son, Nalin, will take on that role.
Nikki Haley often mentions her status as a military wife. She joined the Guard as an officer in 2006, her husband made his first overseas deployment in January 2013, when she was halfway through her first term as governor, and their children were 10 and 14 years.
“He left me as a single mom governor, but we’re still married,” Haley said during a recent campaign appearance in Greer, South Carolina. He went on to criticize the Biden administration’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Citing the current deployment during a CNN town hall in Iowa this month, Haley called it the start of a “year-long prayer that they will be effective and strong and come home safely.”
She also referred to her husband’s upcoming deployment in the US Justice Department’s case against 2024 rival Trump on charges of mishandling classified documents, including national defense information.
Arguing that “two things can be true at the same time” and echoing the arguments of many Republicans that “the DOJ and the FBI have lost all credibility with the American people,” Haley told Fox News last week past that “if this accusation is true, if what he says is really the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security.”
“My husband is about to deploy this weekend,” Haley continued. “This puts all of our servicemen and women at risk, if you talk about what our military is capable of or how we would go about invading or doing something with one of our enemies.”
On Saturday, Haley said her husband’s service has partly shaped her views on foreign policy and military strategy.
“We don’t want to go down a path that puts our men and women in danger. They go because Africa is on fire,” Haley said. “We’ve always known that when our men and women go overseas, it’s to keep us safe here at home.”
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