Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was making her case to voters in her home state in a final push for votes in Saturday's Republican primary, which she is expected to lose.
Haley has already said she will fight on no matter the result in South Carolina, where former President Donald Trump is leading by over 30 percentage points, according to most surveys.
"He would actually encourage Putin to invade our allies."
On the campaign trail, Haley has been pledging to stand up to Russian aggression and slash the deficit if she pulls off an upset win in the presidential nominating contest.
But repeated public opinion polls have shown that many of today's Republican voters aren't interested in the policies she is advocating for.
At a recent Fox News town hall, Trump did not discuss the budget deficit. And when asked about the possibility of Ukraine losing to Russia because it had insufficient weaponry, Trump simply responded that he felt "badly."
Some attendees at Haley events in the week leading up to the primary said they liked her in part because she was willing to support traditional Republican policies that have fallen out of favor.
Attendees at a Trump event in Rock Hill, South Carolina, were eager to talk about the former president's legal woes, which include numerous criminal and civil cases.
"He's going to walk and he's going to walk clean. And all the charges will be dropped."
"I'm not worried about it because it's a witch hunt."
"Well, I think that you can still be president in jail."
TRUMP: "It's really important you get out and vote."
With Trump close to clinching his party's presidential nomination, CPAC organizers are holding a straw poll on Saturday that gives attendees the chance to say who they would like as his vice president.
The list includes New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Senator J.D. Vance, former Trump cabinet official Ben Carson, and right-wing firebrand Kari Lake, who lost her 2020 Senate bid in Arizona.
