The two times South Carolina governor and the former US Ambassador to UN, Nikki Haley on Tuesday hit back at the 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump for trying to get her to drop from the nominations race.

After the Florida Gov. DeSantis suspended campaign following Iowa's low-turnout in presidential caucuses placing distant second, Trump at a rally on primary eve in Laconia said,"We started off with 13 [GOP White House candidates] and now we're down to two people. And I think one person will be gone probably tomorrow," he spoke, pointing at Haley. The latter responded to the former US President, asserting that she does not take instructions from Trump. "I don't do what he tells me to do," Haley, who later served as UN ambassador in the Trump administration, told American news organizations. According to the opinion polls, Trump, in the GOP presidential primary in New Hampshire, is holding a formidable double-digit lead over Haley.

‘We’ll know strong when the numbers come in’: Haley

When asked what percentage of the vote she needs in New Hampshire to continue on to South Carolina, Haley said, "We’ll know strong when the numbers come in. It's not like a certain number. I don't go there and say, Oh, I have to have this number. I have to have that number.” She continued, "And I'm not going to talk about an obituary just because y'all think we have to talk about it," she told reporters.

"I'm going to talk about running the tape and saving this country, I think we have to do it. I'm a fighter. I work hard. And I do it because I love this country. And we're gonna go and fight until the very last poll closes. And then we're headed to my sweet state of South Carolina. And we're gonna make the case there as well.” Further she added, "We're going to South Carolina, we have put in the ad buy. We're there. This has always been a marathon. It's never been a sprint. We wanted to be strong in Iowa. We want to be stronger than that in New Hampshire. We're gonna be even stronger than that in South Carolina. We're running the tape."