As the U.S. political arena winds towards the pivotal New Hampshire primary later this month, GOP presidential candidate Nimarata Nikki Haley finds herself grappling with a resurgence of contentious allegations from her past.
Multiple individuals close to Nikki Haley have stepped forward with claims that contradict her previous statements regarding allegations of extramarital affairs, according to reports from DailyMail.com.
These sources, including sworn affidavits by two men, assert that Haley’s denials of affairs during her gubernatorial campaign are untrue.
William Randolph Folks III, 49, a communications consultant who worked with Haley, and Larry Marchant Jr., 61, a lobbyist, both attested in 2010 affidavits that they had engaged in sexual relationships with Haley before her election as governor.
These allegations were first brought to light by Laura Loomer back in December last year.
Lmao. Give me a break @GovChrisSununu!
You know why @NikkiHaley is so pro-war and never met a war that she didn’t get off to thinking about?
Because everytime her husband is away in a war zone, she uses the opportunity to get laid by another man… or shall I say men.
2 men… https://t.co/vgh9zNv4rS pic.twitter.com/iVk4xzIYCd
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) December 31, 2023
Folks detailed romantic encounters with Haley, including a first kiss and subsequent meetings at his apartment and in her SUV.
From Folk’s affidavit:
I was employed by S.C. Rep. Nikki Haley from early 2007 until March of 2008 as a communications consultant. As I have stated publicly, during that time Rep. Haley and I engaged in an inappropriate physical relationship that included numerous instances of inappropriate sexual contact.
Representative Haley and I shared our first kiss while sitting in her parked car outside ofMacDougal’s restaurant and bar in downtown Columbia, S.C. This kiss took place in early 2007 following an evening with friends at the nearby Liberty Taproom. After this first kiss, Rep. Haley drove us to the parking lot behind the neighborhood center at Emily Douglas Park where we parked for approximately forty-five minutes. There we slid back the seats of her Cadillac SUV so that Rep. Haley could climb on top of me.
After this first romantic encounter, Rep. Haley and I saw each other again repeatedly during the Spring of 2007. Most of these encounters took place at my apartment located at 2610 Lee Street in downtown Columbia A few other romantic encounters occurred in her SUV (including one in the parking lot of the S.C. Policy Council) and in her State House office.
Rep. Haley and I also went out in public together on several occasions. While we usually met at Bar None in Five Points, we occasionally met at The Back Porch restaurant on Gervais Street across from the Clarion Town House hotel. We generally associated with my friend Kenny Boggs, a computer programmer, and Lewis Gossett, who is president of the S.C. Manufacturers’ Alliance. Mr. Boggs was aware of my relationship with Rep. Haley, while Mr. Gossett was not.
My physical relationship with Rep. Haley ended in June of 2007 when I began dating the former Katrina Marie Steinborn, who is now my wife. Rep. Haley specifically requested that I notify her in the event this relationship was getting serious so that she could “back off.”
However, shortly after I informed Rep. Haley that my relationship with Katrina was “getting serious,” Rep. Haley presented me with the allegation that my future wife had been unfaithful to her previous husband in her first marriage. This allegation was made in the context of a request I had made of Rep. Haley to assist me in getting an order of protection for my future wife against her ex-husband.
Rep. Haley eventually “backed off.” As phone records confirm, we remained in contact. During one of our late night phone calls, Rep. Haley informed me that she wanted to confide in Eleanor Kitzman, who was serving as the Director for the South Carolina Department of Insurance, about our affair because she was hurt and had no one to talk to about it.
Marchant’s affidavit described a night spent with Haley at a Salt Lake City conference and refuted Haley’s claim that she was “100% faithful” to her husband.
From Marchant’s affidavit:
Conservatives for Truth in Politics has asked me to provide a sworn statement regarding my previous allegations of having sexual intercourse with Rep. Nikki Haley. Based upon this organization’s request, I will address this topic but it will be the last time I do so.
Rep. Nikki Haley and I were in Salt Lake City attending a conference together on June 14-15, 2008. We were both staying at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown. After a night together of dinner and drinks with other participants of the conference, Rep. Haley and I returned to the hotel together. We went back to her room where we had sexual intercourse and I spent the remainder of the evening. I left her room at approximately 6:00 am.
I came forward publicly on this matter only after being contacted by the press and after hearing Rep. Haley claim that she had been One Hundred Percent faithful to her husband in response to the Folk’s allegations when I knew her statements were absolutely false. This issue has been difficult for me personally, professionally and has brought unwanted attention to my family and my clients.
I take this opportunity to publicly apologize to my wife, my family, and my clients. I came forward because it is the truth.
These allegations initially surfaced during Haley’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign but did not prevent her from being elected governor nor from serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
According to many GOP insiders who spoke with DailyMail.com, Haley’s adultery while she was a South Carolina lawmaker was well-known.
“Multiple GOP insiders told DailyMail.com that they were intimately aware of Haley’s infidelity as a South Carolina lawmaker – including tales of steamy liaisons in the back of her Cadillac SUV, ‘canoodling’ in her lovers’ laps at bars, and nights spent together in a Columbia, South Carolina duplex.”
Nikki Haley and Michael Haley, who was a South Carolina National Army Guard, were married on September 7, 1996, in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Their wedding ceremony incorporated both Sikh and Methodist traditions.
Haley’s campaign has yet to respond to the allegations brought forward by DailyMail.com as the New Hampshire primary approaches.
Read more here.
Fun fact: Nikki Haley changed her husband’s name from Bill to Michael because he just doesn’t look like a Bill, according to an excerpt from Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s 2012 book Can’t is Not an Option.
BBC reported:
Instead, Ms Haley decided, his middle name was a better fit.
“From that point on, I started calling him Michael, and all my friends did the same,” she wrote. “He looks like a Michael.”
“Before we know it, he was universally known as Michael,” she added.
It’s rare that an adult changes their name in this way, naming specialists told the BBC, and unusual to go from one commonly used name to another.
“There are so many Williams and Michaels of different ages, how could you say who was a Bill and who was a Michael?” said Sophie Kihm, a psychologist and editor of naming website Nameberry.