Nikki Haley says she'll vote for Trump, despite previously saying he's "not qualified" to be president

Washington — Former presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Wednesday she will vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, even though she has previously called him "not qualified" to lead the nation. 

Haley, in her first political public appearance since suspending her campaign, announced she will be voting for Trump, despite all of her intense and extensive criticism of the indicted former president's actions and character. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration. 

Since the beginning of the year, Haley has called Trump "as unhinged" and "more unhinged than he ever was." During a February rally, Haley called Trump "not qualified to be the president of the United States," after he blasted Haley's deployed husband. 

"I will be voting for Trump," Haley said during Wednesday's event at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. "Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech." 

In her speech suspending her campaign back in March, Haley said she has always supported the GOP nominee, but quoted former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who said, "Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind."

"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him," Haley said when she dropped out of the race. "And I hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing."

In a May 11 post to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that Haley "is not under consideration" to be his vice presidential candidate. 

Upon Haley's announcement, the Biden campaign said "nothing has changed" for Republicans who voted for Haley. 

"Nothing has changed for the millions of Republican voters who continue to cast their ballots against Donald Trump in the primaries and care deeply about the future of our democracy, standing strong with our allies against foreign adversaries, and working across the aisle to get things done for the American people — while also rejecting the chaos, division and violence that Donald Trump embodies," said Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler."  

— Nidia Cavazos contributed to this report. 

In:
• Donald Trump
• Election
• Nikki Haley

Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.