Donald Trump asks one-time rival Nikki Haley to attend Republican convention

WISCONSIN – Former US president Donald Trump called former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, his one-time rival in the 2024 presidential race, and asked her to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this week, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Trump’s outreach on July 13 after

he was wounded in an assassination attempt

is seen by those around him as an effort to unify the party, the people said, who were granted anonymity to disclose a private conversation.

The former president is seizing on the outpouring of goodwill to make requests of people who may have otherwise baulked.

Ms Haley, the former South Carolina governor who came in second to Trump during the Republican primary in 2024, is slated to speak on July 16, according to other people familiar with the plans. 

Last week, she said that she was releasing her delegates and encouraging them to support the former president. Ms Haley called the convention a “time for Republican unity” and cast her decision as important to denying President Joe Biden another term in the White House.

Ms Haley ended her own run for the Republican presidential nomination in March after a poor performance in Super Tuesday contests, becoming the last major rival to Trump to exit the primary.

She served as an ambassador to the UN under Trump, and her campaign leaned heavily into her foreign policy experience and her pledge to be a careful steward of the federal budget.

But the contest between Ms Haley and Trump turned increasingly bitter during the primary cycle. She questioned Trump and Mr Biden’s mental acuity, raising questions about their age, and Trump badgered her with a derisive nickname. BLOOMBERG