Donald Trump has claimed he made Nikki Haley UN ambassador because of the bad job she was doing as governor of South Carolina.
The one-term president took a swing at his 2024 rival for the Republican nomination for president in a post on Truth Social the day after she announced she was running against him.
“The greatest thing Nikki Haley did for our Country, and the Great State of South Carolina, was accepting the position of United Nations Ambassador so that the incredible then Lieutenant Governor, Henry McMaster, could be Governor of South Carolina, where he has done an absolutely fantastic job,” Mr Trump wrote.
“That was a big reason why I appointed Nikki to the position—It was a favor to the people I love in South Carolina!”
Ms Haley, who is 51, formally launched her campaign for the White House earlier this week, and in an apparent dig at Mr Trump and Joe Biden caked for “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”
Mr Biden is 80, while Mr Trump, who has also announced his campaign for 2024 is 76 years old.
“It’s not that America is past her prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” Ms Haley told the crowd at her announcement event in Charleston. “We won’t win the fight for the 21st Century if we keep trusting politicians from the twentieth Century.”
“If you’re tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation,” Ms Haley said.
A Reuters/Ipso poll this week showed that Mr Trump leads the 2024 Republican field with 43 per cent of voters saying they support him, while Ms Haley is in fourth place with just four per cent.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pence could both also announce their intentions to run.
