Former President Donald Trump appeared to get his opponents confused while rambling onstage at a New Hampshire rally on Friday about how Nikki Haley was responsible for security during the January 6 riot.
It seems as though Mr Trump, 77, was referring to Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, considering Ms Haley has never been a member of US Congress. Ms Haley previously served as the governor of South Carolina and as US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr Trump appointed Ms Haley to the ambassador role. She is currently running against him for the Republican nomination for US president.
Even so, Ms Pelosi, who is still serving as a Democratic representative from California, was not responsible for the security presence as pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the US Capitol to try to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power following Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. That duty lies with the Capitol Police Board, which oversees the US Capitol Police and has the authority to accept assistance from the US National Guard.
“Nikki Haley is in charge of security,” Mr Trump said at the rally. “We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down.”
Ms Haley has not publicly responded to the former president’s comments. On the day of the riot, she tweeted, “An embarrassment in the eyes of the world and total sadness for our country. Wake up America.”
Mr Trump has levelled the accusation against Ms Pelosi in the past. However, there is no evidence that the former president had authorised 10,000 National Guards to be deployed to the US Capitol on January 6.
The claim was previously proven untrue by the January 6 committee in a final report.
Demonstrators decided to march to the US Capitol at Mr Trump’s direction.
Mr Trump has made repeated jokes about President Biden’s cognitive ability while on the campaign trail. Mr Biden is 81.
“He can’t put two sentences together,” Mr Trump said on Friday. “Can’t put two sentences together. He needs a teleprompter.” Still, Mr Biden has not made a habit of confusing his political rivals the way Mr Trump has.
One day before the comments about Ms Haley, the former president again mixed up President Biden and Former President Barack Obama.