Haley rips Trump for 'reckless spending'

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley laced into Donald Trump in a speech laying out her economic plan on Friday, faulting the former president for “reckless spending.”

“Joe Biden is proving reckless spending is the road to socialism. But he's not the only culprit," the former South Carolina governor said in a speech in New Hampshire, which focused on tax cuts and reducing spending. "Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Barack Obama added more to our national debt than the previous 42 presidents combined.”

In unveiling her so-called Freedom Plan, Haley said she will aim to eliminate the federal gas tax, reduce income tax rates, make small-business tax relief permanent, reduce spending to pre-pandemic levels, mandate zero-based budgeting and cut green energy subsidies.

Haley’s economic policy speech — and her dig at Trump — comes less than a week ahead of the second GOP primary debate, where Trump will once again be absent from the stage.

Recent polls have shown the former president still leading in the primary by a significant margin, though support for Haley has ticked up in some recent polls.

A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released on Wednesday showed support for Trump at 39 percent in the first-in-the-nation primary state. But Haley, at 12 percent, was on relatively equal footing with biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 13 percent, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 11 percent and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 10 percent.