Trump rival quits race

Former US President Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 election, after Nikki Haley suspended her campaign following the Super Tuesday primaries.

Trump swept 14 out of 15 states that held primaries, with Haley only winning in Vermont. At the end of the day, Trump stood at 995 Republican convention delegates – more than a tenfold lead over Haley’s 89.

“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” Haley told supporters in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday morning.

“I have no regrets,” she said, noting that her mother, who immigrated from India, was able to vote for her daughter in a presidential primary.

“In all likelihood Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention meets in July. I congratulate him and wish him well,” she added.

President Joe Biden has called on Haley’s supporters to vote for Democrats.

“I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign. I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground,” he said.

Meanwhile, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden mocked Haley’s hawkish politics.

“John Bolton in heels was not a viable candidate. Who could have imagined?” he said on X (formerly Twitter).

Haley served as the US ambassador to the UN during the first Trump presidency but resigned after less than two years on the job, siding with the Democrats who tried to block Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

She launched her presidential campaign with the support of a Republican faction hostile to Trump. Though she failed to gain much traction in the primaries, Haley insisted on staying in the race, arguing that Trump could end up being disqualified or jailed. Her only campaign wins were in the Democrat strongholds of Washington, DC and Vermont. South Carolina, where she was governor, went to Trump last month.