Trump warns Nikki Haley donors will be ‘permanently banned from the MAGA camp’

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Donald Trump has warned Nikki Haley that donors to her campaign will be “permanently banned from the MAGA camp”, as he steps up his attacks on his sole Republican rival still in the race.

“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday evening.

“We don’t want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!” he added.

Ms Haley responded to the former president’s threat, writing on X: “Well in that case . . . donate here. Let’s Go!”

Posting a link to her donation page, she added that her campaign had already raised $1m in the 24 hours since the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

Mr Trump sailed to victory over Ms Haley in the New Hampshire primary, with 54.4 per cent to 43.3 per cent and 95 per cent of the votes counted – roughly in line with the 11 percentage point gap estimated by the final opinion polls.

But despite her loss, Ms Haley has vowed to stay in the Republican race for the presidential nomination.

“This race is far from over,” she told supporters on Tuesday.

Her decision to stay in the race seemed to rile up Mr Trump, who labelled Ms Haley an “imposter” who is still “hanging around” despite her loss, during his victory speech on Tuesday.

Mr Trump’s threat could complicate matters for Ms Haley’s billionaire backers. Ken Langone, co-founder of US retail chain Home Depot, told the The Financial Times last week he was waiting to see how she performed in New Hampshire before he considered making a “major gift” to her campaign, saying he did not want to “throw money down a rat hole”.

Meanwhile, the billionaire co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, who gave a six-figure sum to Ms Haley’s campaign, is rumoured to have pulled out as a donor, according to multiple reports.

However, some donors see Mr Trump’s attacks on Ms Haley as a further reason to support her.

Philanthropist Simone Levinson told The Financial Times that Mr Trump’s victory speech “was a sobering reminder of . . . why he has not won a race, or brought our country together, since his election in 2016”, and affirmed her support for the former UN ambassador.

In recent weeks, Mr Trump has managed to gain numerous high-profile endorsements, even from those who have previously campaigned against him, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – who dropped out of the presidential race after losing the Iowa primary – and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – who also dropped out of the GOP nomination race.