Nikki Haley's Old Affair Rumor Gives MAGA New Ammo

Unproven rumors from more than a decade ago of GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley having multiple affairs have given supporters of former President Donald Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement fuel for a new attack.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor and ex-united Nations Ambassador, is running against Trump in the 2024 presidential election. While Trump beat out his opponents in the Republican Iowa caucus on Monday, earning 51 percent of voter support, he faces a tough primary race against Haley in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Trump currently has 48 percent of voter support in New Hampshire, while Haley trails closely behind with 34.3 percent, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

Trump has been smearing Haley in a series of social media attacks this week, likening her to his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, and mocking her third-place finish in Iowa, where she got 19.1 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, Trump's base of MAGA supporters has launched a new attack on his political rival, stemming from old rumors of Haley having two different affairs in the early 2000s. Haley firmly denied any accusations of unfaithfulness to her husband, Michael Haley, at the time that these rumors first surfaced.

The rumors were never proven and no significant new information has emerged about the old accusations, but that hasn't stopped Trump supporters from spreading them again. Their attacks come as Haley has risen in the polls, with many analysts speculating she could defeat Trump in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

Haley's press team did not respond to Newsweek's multiple requests for comment via phone and email. In 2010, when the allegations first emerged, Haley described them as "totally false."

In 2010, when Haley was running her first successful campaign for South Carolina governor, two men went public with accusations that she had cheated on her husband with them. These rumors resurfaced last year when Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and vocal Trump supporter, posted signed affidavits from the two men, detailing their alleged affairs with Haley, on X, formerly Twitter.

In an X post on December 30, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Haley, wrote about the GOP candidate: "As a military spouse, she understands the value of service and sacrifice." Michael Haley is a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard.

Loomer responded to Sununu's post with pictures of the affidavits and wrote, "Tell me again how @NikkiHaley is such a good 'military spouse.'"

The affair allegations gained more traction among Trump's base after the Daily Mail picked up the story on Friday, with Ryan Fournier, the co-founder of Students for Trump, and conservative X account @Proud Elephant referencing the Mail's article on social media.

The two men who went public with the allegations are political commentator Will Folks, who was a communications consultant for Haley from early 2007 to March 2008, and Larry Marchant Jr., who worked for then-Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer's campaign against Haley in the 2010 Republican primary.

Folks claimed in the affidavit that he had an "inappropriate physical relationship" with Haley while he was employed by her. Meanwhile, Marchant alleged that he and Haley had "sexual intercourse" when they were attending a conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, together in June 2008.

Haley responded to Folks claims in a statement in 2010: "I have been 100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage. This claim against me is categorically and totally false."

Speaking on Marchant's allegations, Tim Pearson, a spokesperson for Haley during her 2010 run, told Politico at the time, "This is a false and outrageous desperate attack from a losing candidate's paid campaign consultant in the final week of the race.

"As Nikki Haley rises in the polls, the good old boys in Columbia see their taxpayer-funded fraternity party coming crumbling down, and they will say or do anything to hold on to their power. This is South Carolina politics at its worst. The people of our state deserve better, and when Nikki Haley is governor, they'll get it."

Uncommon Knowledge

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