Nikki Haley slams Trump after defamation trial verdict: ‘Not talking about’ border, inflation

Nikki Haley criticized former President Trump on Friday, saying he is too preoccupied with other issues, hours after he was ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll more than $80 million in damages. 

“Donald Trump wants to be the presumptive Republican nominee and we’re talking about $83.3 million in damages,” Haley wrote on X. “We’re not talking about fixing the border. We’re not talking about tackling inflation. America can do better than Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”

Earlier, a jury said Trump should pay Carroll over defamatory statements in which he disparaged her while denying allegations that he raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across from Trump Tower in Manhattan sometime in 1996.

TRUMP DEFENDS HIMSELF ON THE STAND, BLASTS E JEAN CARROLL TRIAL: ‘THIS IS NOT AMERICA’

Trump is running against Biden for a second term in the White House despite being entangled in multiple lawsuits and criminal cases. He criticized Friday’s verdict on social media. 

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party,” Trump posted on his TRUTH Social shortly after the verdict was read. “Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights.” 

“THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” he added. 

Haley has emerged as Trump’s remaining major rival for the Republican nomination. He defeated her in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, and before that, won the Iowa caucus, where Haley placed third.

On Friday, she questioned Trump’s mental state, asking whether he was “confused again” after releasing a video showing him railing against the court proceedings in New York.

In the video, Trump is seen blasting someone his campaign said was Carroll. He said he has “no idea” who she is, before referencing “somebody running for office.”

“Wait a second, did Trump just say the person suing him is ‘running for office?’ Is he confused again? I was not in a New York City courtroom yesterday, any more than I was in charge of security at the Capitol on January 6. I was in South Carolina meeting with voters. They’d like to see a debate between me and Trump,” Haley wrote in a post on X.

Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.