Trump tells Iowa voters Dems are ‘funding’ Nikki Haley, ‘contributing to’ Ron DeSantis to keep him out of 2024 GOP presidential race

Former President Donald Trump accused Democrats on Tuesday of donating to Republican White House hopefuls Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis to keep him from becoming the 2024 GOP presidential nominee. 

Trump, 77, made the claim during a town hall event in Davenport, Iowa, after being asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity about his reaction to President Biden’s remark that he likely would have retired after a single term if his 2020 opponent wasn’t running in next year’s election.

“Well, I think somebody gave him a talking point they thought that would sound good,” the GOP presidential front-runner said of the 81-year-old incumbent’s remark, before suggesting that the alleged donations going to his primary rivals indicate Democrats — and Biden — are being dishonest about who they want to face in the general election. 

“You know, I just found out that Democrats are funding Nikki Haley’s campaign,” Trump said. 

“I hear that Democrats are contributing to Ron DeSanctus’ — or Ron DeSanctimonious —  to Ron DeSanctus’ campaign,” he added, using the two derisive nicknames he frequently employs when talking or posting about the Florida governor. 

“That’s the only thing they’re good at — cheating on elections and great talking points,” Trump said of Democrats. “They say, ‘We want to run against Trump.’ They want to run? Well, we did really well in 2016. And we did so much better in 2020. The person they don’t want to run against is us”

Trump may have been referring to a report in the New York Times that LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman contributed $250,000 to SFA Fund, a pro-Nikki Haley super PAC that has spent more than $33 million supporting the former South Carolina governor’s GOP primary bid. 

Hoffman also dumped nearly $700,000 into the Biden Victory Fund war chest, a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Biden campaign, in April, federal election records show.

The tech billionaire admitted to the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that he paid a visit to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean in 2014, to raise funds for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — a decision that he called a “mistake” and a “personal misjudgment.”

The Haley campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

It’s unclear which Democrats Trump was referring to as “contributing” to DeSantis’ White House bid. A spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign suggested Trump may have confused the Florida governor with Haley.

Trump held the town hall event the night before the fourth GOP primary debate in Tuscaloosa, Ala., which the former president will not attend. 

Trump holds a nearly 29-point lead over DeSantis and a 32-point lead over Haley in the Hawkeye State with just over a month to go until the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses — the first GOP presidential nominating contest of the 2024 cycle. 

“I feel great,” Trump told Hannity about the state of the race. 

When asked by the Fox News host to assuage voters that, if elected, he would “never abuse power as retribution against anybody,” Trump responded, “Except for Day One.” 

“Other than Day One. We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that I’m not a dictator,” he clarified.