'Say it to my face': Haley responds to Trump mocking husband's military service

Former United States president Donald Trump mocked ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley's husband at a campaign rally in her home state, by questioning why he had been missing from the campaign trail, ABC News reported.

At the rally, the 77-year-old Republican presidential candidate asked about Major Michael Haley's whereabouts, suggesting that his absence from the campaign trail was the result of a strained marriage with Haley.

"Where's her husband? Oh, he's away. He's away," Trump mocked. "What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he? He's gone. He knew. He knew."

Meanwhile, over 150 miles away at a campaign event in Gilbert, South Carolina, Haley was quick to respond to her former boss's comments about her husband who is currently serving an active duty deployment in the Horn of Africa for the South Carolina Army National Guard.

"I need to start with the fact that Donald Trump had a rally today, and in that rally, he mocked my husband's military service," she began.

Haley invited Trump to say it to her face in a debate, a request she has now continuously made on the campaign trail.

"And I'll say this, Donald, if you have something to say, don't say it behind my back," she asserted. "Get on a debate stage and say it to my face."

Haley then said that anyone who mocks the service of a combat veteran should not be president, and again challenged Trump to take a mental competency test to prove his fitness to be president.

"I have long talked about the fact that we need to have mental competency tests for anyone over the age of 75. Donald Trump claims that he would pass that — maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. But if you mock the service of a combat veteran, you don't deserve a driver's license, let alone being President of the United States."

Major Haley responded to the insult made by Trump, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he tagged Trump as well as multiple news outlets along with a meme.

Bold white text overlayed a portrait of a wolf and read: "The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack."