Haley Says She Showed Restraint Responding To Ramaswamy

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had a viral moment during Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate when she called fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy “scum” during a heated exchange.

During the debate, moderator Hugh Hewitt asked Ramaswamy how he can go about banning TikTok, given his own use of it on the campaign trail.

Ramaswamy used the opportunity to go after Haley, who had ridiculed him for using the app in the previous debate.

Vivek calls out Nikki Haley for criticizing him for using TikTok despite her daughter also using the app.

HALEY: “You're just scum.” pic.twitter.com/rEkoTL9d5c

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 9, 2023

From The New York Post:

“In the last debate, [Haley] made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time. So you might want to take care of your family first,” Ramaswamy said.

“Leave my daughter out of your voice,” Haley shot back in a response that drew a massive cheer from the crowd at Miami’s Arsht Center, as well as a few boos from Ramaswamy.

“We have to ban any US company actually transferring US data to the Chinese,” he said, before taking one last dig at Haley.

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“Now it’s popular to talk tough on China. When she was UN Ambassador, she called them, literally her words not mine, ‘Our great friend.’ You can’t be fair weather fans of the right policy.”

Haley explained that she made the remark during a period of intense negotiations between the US, China and Russia to impose “the largest set of sanctions against North Korea in a generation.”

On Thursday, during an appearance on Fox News, Haley she was “showing a lot of restraint” when she called Ramaswamy scum.

“He threw a petty shot there,” she said. “It says more about him than it does about me.”

Asked if she regrets the comment on Thursday by Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, Haley said no.

Nikki Haley is asked about calling Vivek Ramaswamy “scum” for mentioning her daughter at the GOP debate.

Fox News' Bill Hemmer: “Do you want to continue with that today? Do you feel the same way?”

Haley: “I mean … That was showing a lot of restraint. That’s all I’ll say.” pic.twitter.com/MOQ9lNSAeQ

— The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2023

“That was showing a lot of restraint, Bill. That’s all I’ll say,” she said.