Haley ‘inclined in favor’ of Trump pardon

After calling Donald Trump “reckless,” Nikki Haley on Tuesday said she would still be “inclined” to pardon him if he is convicted of federal charges.

Haley’s remarks on the conservative Clay Travis and Buck Sexton radio show came after the former U.N. ambassador and GOP presidential candidate on Monday said the allegations against Trump, if true, show that he put “all of our military men and women in danger.”

In Tuesday’s interview, Haley maintained that Trump was “incredibly reckless with our national security,” based on the indictment — but not reckless enough to deserve to carry out a sentence.

“When you look at a pardon, the issue is less about guilt and more about what’s good for the country,” Haley said. “And I think it would be terrible for the country to have a former president in prison for years because of a documents case.

“So I would be inclined in favor of a pardon.”

Haley added that it’s “really premature” to discuss a pardon if Trump hasn’t yet been convicted of any charges. The former president on Tuesday afternoon had a first appearance in court in Miami.

Haley’s evolving responses to Trump’s ongoing legal dilemma illustrate the difficulty his opponents are having in using the charges as a line of attack. On Friday, Haley’s initial reaction was to discredit the case against him, saying “this is not how justice should be pursued in our country.”

Even Trump’s top rival in the primary, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has declined to go after him directly on the charges — instead saying that the case is politically motivated and that Democrats aren’t held to the same standard as Republicans.

Earlier Tuesday, fellow GOP primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy spoke outside the Miami courthouse and called for each presidential candidate to commit to pardoning Trump.