Nikki Haley questions Trump's mental fitness

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has turned the spotlight on Donald Trump's mental fitness after the former president accused her of "failing to stop" the violent attack at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump, speaking at a campaign event days before the nation's first New Hampshire primary, appeared to confuse Haley with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Referring to the Jan. 6 uprising by his supporters, Trump, after repeatedly saying his rival's name, told the crowd: "Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people - soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want - they they refused. They don't want to talk about it."
Haley, Trump's main challenger in the New Hampshire race, pointed out that not only was she not in charge of Capitol security, she wasn't even in office at the time.
"They're saying he got confused, that he was talking about something else," the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor said at a rally in New Hampshire.
"The concern I have is, I'm not saying anything offensive, but when you're dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can't have someone else who we doubt is mentally fit to do this."
Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden, 81, because of his age and expressed doubts that he has the mental acuity to serve a second term.
"The concern I have is, I'm not saying anything offensive, but when you're dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can't afford to have somebody else who we question whether they're mentally fit to do the job."
Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden, 81, because of his age and expressed doubts that he has the mental acuity to serve a second term.
The comments by Haley, who turned 52 on Saturday, were among the most direct challenges from a fellow Republican to the mental state of Trump, who is 77.
Haley said that political candidates over the age of 75 should pass a mental competency test, and expanded on that point in an interview with Fox News.
"We need people who are at the top of their game. We need people who are focused on national security. . . . Do we really want them to be saying names and making mistakes when they're 80 years old and having to deal with Putin and Xi and Kim and North Korea? We can't do that."
Trump's suggestion that Pelosi — or Haley — rejected an offer of help while the Capitol was under siege also raised questions.
The House committee that conducted the investigation into the Jan. 6 incident said it found no evidence that Trump made such a suggestion.
Critics say Trump is increasingly showing signs of aging, and the former president himself touched on the issue earlier this week, repeating his story of how he once "passed" an attention acuity test by correctly identifying animals such as giraffe, tiger and whale.
But the problem doesn't seem to have hurt him.
Many more voters are expressing concern about Biden's age and fitness, and Trump remains the heavy favorite among Republicans across the country. /BGNES