Trumps slams ‘imposter’ Haley after she refuses to drop out of Republican race after New Hampshire defeat

Haley has vowed to fight on with South Carolina up next – the state where she served as governor for eight years – saying the race is far from over

Donald Trump has labelled Nikki Haley an “imposter” for refusing to pull out of the Republican election race following her defeat in the New Hampshire primary.

Ms Haley is the last remianing opponent keeping Mr Trump from taking the Republican nomination for president and it is clear that her desire to stay in the race is getting under his skin.

In his victory speech on Tuesday evening, the former US president hit out at Ms Haley as an “imposter” who’s still “hanging around” despite failing to secure a win in New Hampshire.

“We beat her so badly,” he told his cheering supporters.

“I can say to everybody ‘thank you for the victories, it’s wonderful’ or I can go up and say ‘who the hell was the imposter that went up on the stage before and claimed a victory?’ she did very poorly actually,” he added.

Mr Trump also claimed Ms Haley had a “very bad night,” pointing out that she finished behind Ron DeSantis in Iowa, who dropped out of the race on Sunday and endorsed the former president.

Donald Trump has labelled Nikki Haley an ‘imposter’ after she refused to pull out of the Republican election race (Getty Images)

His remarks followed a series of angry posts on his Truth Social app, denouncing her as “DELUSIONAL.”

While the final margin is still unclear, with 91 per cent of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning, Donald Trump was leading Nikki Haley in New Hampshire by 54.6 per cent to 43.1 per cent, or his 163,396 votes to her 129,104.

Ms Haley had hoped the Northeastern state’s sizable cadre of independent voters would carry her to an upset win that might loosen Mr Trump’s grip on the Republican Party. Instead, Mr Trump becane the first Republican to sweep competitive votes in both Iowa - where he won by a record-setting margin eight days ago - and New Hampshire since 1976.

Despite her loss, Ms Haley vowed to continue in the Republican race for the presidential nomination.

“This race is far from over,” she told the crowd in the state capitol of Concord, challenging Mr Trump to debate her. “I’m a fighter. And I’m scrappy. And now we’re the last one standing next to Donald Trump.

“There are dozens of states left to go... and the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina,” she continued.