Nikki Haley silent on Trump’s NYC conviction as other prominent Republicans spring to his defense

Former U.N. Ambassador and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has remained silent on the criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump as prominent Republicans and former Trump rivals continue to sound off.

Haley’s social media accounts have made no mention of the conviction as of early Friday afternoon and neither she, nor her representatives, responded to Fox News Digital’s repeated requests for comment.

Haley, who has been on a visit to Israel, posted on her X account multiple times since the conviction describing the horrors of the Oct. 7 attack carried out by Hamas against Israel.

Trump and Haley’s strong working relationship deteriorated after Haley entered the 2024 GOP primary field despite previously saying she would not, which the former president took issue with during the campaign multiple times.

After Trump came out on top of the battle for the GOP nomination that involved the trading of personal attacks between him and Haley, the former ambassador was at first noncommittal about whether she would support him.

Haley ultimately came out and endorsed Trump this month.

‘I will be voting for Trump,’ Haley said during an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

‘Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech,’ Haley added. ‘Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me and not assume that they’re just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that.’

Reactions from prominent Republicans started pouring in immediately following Trump’s conviction and many of Trump’s other primary opponents have also weighed in on the conviction with mixed reactions.

The jury found Trump guilty Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election.

Moments after the verdict was delivered by the jury, the former president spoke to reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom. 

‘This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt, as a rigged trial and disgrace. It wouldn’t give us a venue change,’ Trump said. ‘We were at 5% or 6% in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial.’ 

Trump said ‘the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.