Trump is mocked for confusing Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi during New Hampshire tirade about Jan. 6 security lapses - as former president says he's 'probably not' picking ex-South Carolina governor as VP

Donald Trump appeared to confuse his GOP presidential primary rival Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday, as he lashed out at Haley and said he would ‘probably’ not select her as a running mate.

Speaking at a rally in Concord, New Hampshire ahead of the state’s key primary election set for Tuesday, Trump repeatedly referred to Haley being responsible for security during the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

‘By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6. You know Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know, they — do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it,’ Trump claimed, without substantiation.

‘Because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security — we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people.’

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign pounced on the gaffe, posting a clip of Trump’s comment on X and remarking: ‘A deeply confused Trump confuses Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley multiple times.’

Speaking at a rally in Concord, New Hampshire on Friday night, Trump repeatedly referred to Nikki Haley being responsible for security during the US Capitol riot

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign pounced on the gaffe, posting a clip of Trump’s comment on X

Trump has long blamed Pelosi, a top Democrat, for the events of January 6, when a mob of his supporters breached the Capitol and attempted to stop the certification of Biden’s election win.

Pelosi’s office has denied those claims, saying that she had no more responsibility for Capitol security than did then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican.

A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Saturday morning.

At his event in Concord on Friday, Trump spent much of his speech disparaging Haley, and said he would ‘probably’ not select her as a running mate.

‘She is not presidential timber,’ Trump said. ‘Now when I say that, that probably means that she’s not going to be chosen as the vice president.’

‘I know her very well. She’s not tough enough. She’s not smart enough. And she wasn’t respected enough. She cannot do this job,’ Trump said. ‘She’s not going to be able to deal with President Xi. She’s not going to be able to deal with Putin.’

Ahead of Tuesday primary election in New Hampshire, Trump has stepped up his rhetorical attacks on Haley, his main challenger in the Granite State, where an open primary format gives independent voters an influential say.

The latest tracking poll of likely voters in the New Hampshire GOP primary shows Trump with 52 percent support, followed by Haley at 35 percent.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a distant third at 6 percent, and has focused his resources on South Carolina, where his brand of culture warrior politics is seen as potentially gaining more traction.

Donald Trump appeared to confuse his GOP presidential primary rival Nikki Haley (left) with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (right) on Friday

Trump has long blamed Pelosi for the events of January 6, when a mob of his supporters breached the Capitol and attempted to stop the certification of Biden’s election win

On his Truth Social platform, Trump lashed out at Haley on Friday, mocking her birth name in racially charged taunts.

Trump repeatedly referred to Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India by way of Canada, as ‘Nimbra,’ and apparent misspelling of her given name.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor, was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, as Nimarata Nikki Randhawa.

Since childhood, she has always gone by her middle name, ‘Nikki.’ She took the surname ‘Haley’ upon her marriage in 1996 to Michael Haley.

Trump called Haley ‘Nimbra’ three times in the same post on Friday, and said she ‘doesn’t have what it takes.’

Trump’s post was an escalation of recent attacks in which he referenced Haley’s given first name – though he previously misspelled it ‘Nimrada’.

He has also falsely suggested she is ineligible for the presidency because her parents were not US citizens when she was born in 1972. Haley, a US citizen at birth, meets the Constitution’s citizenship requirements for the presidency.

Haley has dismissed Trump’s latest attacks as proof that she threatens his bid for a third consecutive nomination.

‘I’ll let people decide what he means by his attacks,’ Haley told reporters in New Hampshire on Friday when asked about Trump´s false assertions that her heritage disqualifies her from the Oval Office.

Trump repeatedly referred to Haley, the daughter of immigrants from India by way of Canada, as ‘Nimbra,’ and apparent misspelling of her given name

Sen Tim Scott appeared on stage with Donald Trump on Friday evening in Concord, New Hampshire, to endorse the former president is the race for the Republican nomination

‘What we know is, look, he’s clearly insecure if he goes and does these temper tantrums, if he’s spending millions of dollars on TV. He’s insecure, he knows that something’s wrong,’ she added, according to the Associated Press.

Amid the controversy Friday, Trump won the endorsement of South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, the Senate’s only black Republican, who made his own bid for the presidency but dropped out early on.

Haley appointed Scott to the Senate in 2012, during her first term as governor.

Scott appeared on stage with Trump in Concord, firing up the crowd as he delivered his endorsement of Trump.

‘We need a president who sees Americans as one American family. We need …’ said Scott, letting the audience roar: ‘Donald Trump.’

‘And that’s why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire to endorse the next president of the United States President Donald Trump.’

New Hampshire holds its first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Haley in particular may struggle to continue her campaign if she finishes a distant second to the former president.