The Affair Rumors Between Nikki Haley And Donald Trump Explained

Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley is set on defeating her friend, former President Donald J. Trump, for the GOP nomination in the 2024 presidential election. A dramatic story, to be sure, but the drama is only intensified by rumors of an affair dating back to 2018. At the time, Haley served under Trump as part of her U.N. gig. She even told reporters that Trump encouraged her to run when she brought it up to him, CNN notes. 

Since she announced her candidacy in February 2023, Haley has been seemingly conflicted in what she's trying to do. Per Politico, she appears to be walking a fine line between wanting to be the new face of the GOP and being a trusted friend and ally of Trump. She can't exactly be both. 

"I understand the president. I understand that genuinely, to his core, he believes he was wronged," Haley told Tim Alberta at Politico. "This is not him making it up." CNN even notes that she was among a minority of Trump-appointed officials who left office on good terms with the former president. No matter their 2024 political rivalry, it's clear that Haley and Trump were and perhaps still are friends. So, where did the affair rumors start?

Once Nikki Haley became one of former president Donald Trump's appointed staffers, she received more scrutiny than before. Namely, she became the target of affair rumors with the president himself in January of 2018. According to Politico, the rumor came about after "Fire and Fury" author Michael Wolff told "Real Time with Bill Maher" that he knew Trump was having an affair. 

The passage that alludes to the affair in Wolff's book reads, "The president had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One and was seen to be grooming her for a national political future" (via Politico). Haley called the rumors "highly offensive" and disgusting, per the outlet. Further, she told the outlet that she had only been on Air Force One once, and with other people in the room. 

Whatever the nature of their relationship, it certainly seems to have been a rollercoaster. The Guardian notes that Haley told the media at the end of the 2016 Presidential election that she voted for Trump even though she didn't like him. The outlet also noted that the speculation around Haley and Trump's affair was the second affair rumor against the president within the same month. 

Despite their history, Nikki Haley and Donald Trump aren't on such cooperative ground anymore. The further Haley's fight for the 2024 nomination runs, the more Trump and his followers push back. Trump has even been speaking out against Haley, particularly after the Iowa Caucus on January 15, 2024. 

According to Vanity Fair, Trump started hitting back hard when Haley refused to drop out of the race for the GOP nomination. "Anyone listening to Nikki 'Nimrada' Haley's wacked out speech last night, would think that she won the Iowa Primary," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "She didn't, and she couldn't even beat a very flawed Ron DeSanctimonious, who's out of money, and out of hope." Vanity Fair added that Trump's spelling of "Nimrada" mirrors Haley's given first name, "Nimarata." 

Yet as Politico points out, Haley is still being polite to Trump, even going so far as to congratulate him on his win in the New Hampshire Primary on January 23. The outlet also explains that Trump and his followers are now devoting too much energy to battling Haley, who likely won't win any big states, instead of shoring up to take on Joe Biden.