Ebony Davis, CNN

Tue, February 13, 2024 at 9:07 AM PST

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday said she thinks President Joe Biden should resign, as it would be in “the best interest of the country.”

Asked by radio host Hugh Hewitt during an interview if she believes the president should step down, Haley responded: “Yes, I do.”

“I think the Democrat Party knows that and I think that it is not just in the best interest of their party. It’s in the best interest of the country. What I will tell you – and I have said this from the very beginning – the party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is the party that will win,” Haley said.

“We cannot have a country in disarray and a world on fire and have two presidential candidates in their 80s when we need someone who’s going to put eight years into making sure that we are disciplined, focused on getting our economy, the border, preventing war, and getting our country back on track,” she added.

Haley has made similar calls for years – she cited Biden’s foreign policy as a reason he should step aside in early 2022, and last month, after it was revealed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not disclose a hospitalization, she said Biden should be “fired” over the controversy.

But Tuesday’s remark is especially pointed as Haley is trying to gain traction ahead of a crucial GOP primary in her home state of South Carolina and as questions over Biden’s fitness for office have been renewed in the wake of special counsel Robert Hur’s report, which, although it did not charge the president with a crime, painted a picture of apparent lapses in memory after Biden failed to properly protect highly sensitive classified information.

The former South Carolina governor has frequently taken digs at Biden, who is 81, and former President Donald Trump, 77, over their age, arguing they are both too old to serve another four years as president. Haley, 52, has also been adamant about calling for term limits and mental competency tests for any politician over the age over the age of 75.

Haley: We Don’t Need Older Presidential Candidates

Bloomberg

Mon, February 12, 2024 at 5:08 AM PST

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says President Joe Biden is mentally in decline. She says former President Donald Trump has also been “confused.” She says we don’t need older presidential candidates that are not at the top of their game. She speaks on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”