Trump tears into Haley after New Hampshire victory

Former President Trump lambasted Nikki Haley on Tuesday after defeating her in the New Hampshire primary, pressuring his lone major rival in the GOP nominating contest to suspend her campaign.

“I have to tell you — it was very interesting, because I said, ‘Wow what a great victory,’ but then somebody ran up to the stage all dressed up nicely when it was at 7, but now I just walked up, and it was at 14,” Trump said, mocking Haley for delivering remarks to supporters after the race was called in his favor.

“Let’s not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night,” Trump said.

Later, he added that he couldn’t let his former United Nations ambassador “get away with bullshit.”

“But I felt I should do this, because I find in life, you can’t let people get away with bullshit,” he said. “You can’t. And when I watched her in the fancy dress … I said, ‘What’s she doing?’ We won. And she did the same thing last week.”

The former president also swiped at New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who campaigned across the state with Haley.

“This guy — he’s got to be on something. I’ve never seen anybody with energy. He’s like hopscotch,” Trump said. The mention of Sununu, who is popular among Granite Staters, drew remarkably loud boos from the pro-Trump crowd. 

At one point, the former president turned to Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a onetime primary rival who hails from Haley’s home state and endorsed Trump.

“Did you ever think [about how] she actually appointed you, Tim? … And you’re the senator of her state,” Trump said.

“You must really hate her,” Trump said. Scott, who stood behind Trump with a big smile, laughed and stepped up to the podium.

“I just love you,” Scott said emphatically.

Decision Desk HQ called the race in Trump’s favor shortly after polls across the state closed at 8 p.m. Trump was ahead by roughly 10 percentage points with about half of precincts reporting.

In an interview with Fox News Digital after the race was called, Trump said Haley should suspend her campaign.

“She should, because, otherwise, we have to keep wasting money instead of spending on Biden,” Trump told the outlet. “If she doesn’t drop out, we have to waste money instead of spending it on Biden, which is our focus.” 

But Haley made clear in her remarks after polls closed Tuesday that she would not drop out of the race, despite the result.

“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation,” Haley told supporters. “This race is far from over.”

Following Trump’s remarks Tuesday night, the Haley campaign hit back at the former president.

“Two states have now voted in the presidential race, and Donald Trump barely received half of the vote — not exactly a ringing endorsement for a former president demanding a coronation,” Haley communications director Nachama Soloveichik said. “His angry rant was filled with grievances and offered the American people nothing about his vision for our country’s future. This is why so many voters want to move on from Trump’s chaos and are rallying to Nikki Haley’s new generation of conservative leadership.”

But Trump appears to be on a glide path to the nomination. He is the only candidate running in the upcoming Nevada GOP caucuses, which will determine the delegate allocation in the state. Haley opted to appear on the ballot in the state’s primary instead.

The former president is comfortably leading Haley in her home state of South Carolina, which will hold its primary Feb. 24. A Decision Desk HQ average of polls in the state shows Trump ahead of the former governor by 34 percentage points.

Haley, however, has fared better than Trump with the types of moderate, independent voters who the former president would likely need to win over in a general election against President Biden.

Cate Martel contributed.

Updated at 10:15 p.m. ET