Presidential candidate Nikki Haley falsely denied cheating on her husband when she was accused of engaging in two extramarital affairs during her gubernatorial campaign, multiple sources who worked with her claim.
New witnesses have come forward telling DailyMail.com that Haley’s denials of two alleged 2008 affairs are false, and that the supposed trysts were brazen and widely known among South Carolina politicos.
Will Folks, 49, and Larry Marchant, 61, both signed affidavits in 2010 alleging they had a sexual relationship with the then-South Carolina lawmaker, before she went on to become governor.
While the contents of the affidavits were described by major news outlets at the time, this is the first time they have been published outside of Folks’ own document which he published on his blog.
Haley, 51, denied both at the time, saying she was ‘100% faithful’ to the father of her two children and husband of 28 years, Michael Haley – who was deployed in Afghanistan with the National Guard in 2012.
Haley now frequently cites him as a reason for her presidential candidacy.
In 2010, Nikki Haley denied engaging in extramarital affairs with two South Carolina politicos, saying she was ‘100% faithful’ to the father of her two children and husband of 28 years, Michael Haley
Signed affidavits obtained by DailyMail.com, and now, multiple witnesses, claim Haley had sexual relationships with Columbia lobbyist Larry Marchant Jr., 61,(left) and her communications consultant Will Folks before she was elected governor in 2010
The Republican presidential candidate visited a local store while campaigning in Newfields, New Hampshire on Friday
But multiple GOP insiders told DailyMail.com that they were intimately aware of Haley’s infidelity as a South Carolina lawmaker – including tales of steamy liaisons in the back of her Cadillac SUV, ‘canoodling’ in her lovers’ laps at bars, and nights spent together in a Columbia, South Carolina duplex.
Haley has not responded to DailyMail’s request for comment as of the time of publication.
The news comes as Haley’s campaign gears up for the January 23 New Hampshire primary, a fight to regain second place in the race for Republican presidential nominee after Ron DeSantis secured a two-point margin over her with 21% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
Sources spoke to DailyMail.com about Haley’s alleged affairs after noticing her rosy references to her relationship with her husband, a major in the National Guard who is currently deployed in Africa, on her presidential campaign trail.
‘I’m doing this for my husband and his military brothers and sisters. They need to know their sacrifice matters,’ she said in a speech reported by CBS News in December.
Her most recent campaign ad opens with photographs of Michael’s 2013 homecoming from his first deployment to Afghanistan.
Back in 2007, Folks was shaping Haley’s political message as her communications consultant while she served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives.
In a 2010 affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com, Folks stated that he and Haley ‘engaged in an inappropriate physical relationship that included numerous instances of inappropriate sexual contact’.
The former South Carolina governor frequently cites her husband as the reason for her presidential bid and her most recent campaign ad opens with photographs of Michael’s 2013 homecoming from his first deployment to Afghanistan with the National Guard
Nikki Haley has been spending about an hour at each event, talking to voters and taking selfies
CNN’s Jake Tapper (right) asked presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left) Thursday night what a ‘win’ would look like in New Hampshire and if it meant she could come in second place. New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary takes place Tuesday
He said he first kissed Haley in a car in early 2007, and that he had regular trysts with her at his apartment in downtown Columbia. He got married in June 2008.
‘Representative Haley and I shared our first kiss while sitting in her parked car outside of MacDougal’s restaurant and bar in downtown Columbia, S.C.,’ Folks wrote in the October 2010 affidavit.
‘This kiss took place in early 2007 following an evening with friends at the nearby Liberty Taproom. After this first kiss, Rep. Haley drove us to the parking lot behind the neighborhood center at Emily Douglas Park where we parked for approximately forty-five minutes.
‘There we slid back the seats of her Cadillac SUV so that Rep. Haley could climb on top of me.’
Folks said that the alleged affair continued through Spring 2007, with trysts at his Columbia apartment, and that ‘a few other romantic encounters occurred in her SUV ‘including one in the parking lot of the S.C. Policy Council’ and ‘in her State House office’.
He wrote that he broke it off in June 2007 when he started dating the woman he went on to marry the following year, Katrina Steinborn.
Larry Marchant Jr., 61, a Columbia lobbyist, also wrote a sworn statement that year that he had dinner, drinks and sex with Haley in her hotel room at a Salt Lake City conference in June 2008.
At the time Haley’s two children, Rena and Nalin, were around 10 and 7.
‘Rep. Nikki Haley and I were in Salt Lake City attending a conference together on June 14-15,2008,’ Marchant wrote in his affidavit. ‘We were both staying at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown.
The former UN ambassador has been married to Michael Haley since 1996. They share two children, daughter Rena, now 25, and son Nalin, 22
Sources spoke to DailyMail.com about Haley’s alleged affairs after noticing her rosy references to her relationship with her husband – who is currently deployed with the National Guard in Africa – on her presidential campaign trail
Marchant, who was married at the time, divorced in 2013, with his wife citing the alleged Haley affair in court papers
‘After a night together of dinner and drinks with other participants of the conference, Rep. Haley and I returned to the hotel together. We went back to her room where we had sexual intercourse and I spent the remainder of the evening. I left her room at approximately 6:00 am.
‘I came forward publicly on this matter only after being contacted by the press and after hearing Rep. Haley claim that she had been One Hundred Percent faithful to her husband in response to the Folk’s allegations when I knew her statements were absolutely false.’
Marchant, who was married at the time, divorced in 2013, with his wife citing the alleged Haley affair in court papers.
The Republican presidential candidate managed to successfully quash the allegations and avoid scandal – and ultimately went on to be elected governor in November 2010.
But one South Carolina GOP insider told DailyMail.com they knew about Haley’s alleged affair with Marchant at the time.
‘She was in [Marchant’s] office all the time, she’d be there at 11 or midnight, the two of them would be drinking,’ the former associate of Haley said.
The GOP insider said he had also seen Haley get into the back of her off-white Cadillac SUV with her other alleged beau, Folks.
‘I saw them sitting in it a few times with the windows steamed up,’ he said.
A second prominent South Carolina Republican said he regularly saw the distinctive Cadillac outside Folks’s duplex in Columbia, apparently staying overnight.
‘I became curious when I saw an SUV parked outside early in the morning and late at night. It had legislative tags, it wasn’t hard to figure out whose it was,’ he said.
He added that Haley was not secretive with her alleged romancing.
In a sworn affidavit signed in 2010 Folks stated that he ‘engaged in an inappropriate physical relationship that included numerous instances of inappropriate sexual contact’ with Haley when she was a South Carolina lawmaker
Marchant also claimed to have ‘sexual intercourse’ with Haley after they both attended a conference in Salt Lake City in June 2008
‘A lot of people saw her sitting on laps, wrapped arm in arm. I saw her myself when she was sitting on Larry’s lap,’ he claimed.
A third witness, one of Haley’s former campaign staffers, told DailyMail.com he had no doubt about the nature of her relationship with Folks and Marchant.
‘When she was having the affairs, she and her husband were having a lot of problems and were on the verge of divorce,’ the ex-staffer said.
‘There’s no question she and Will were having an affair.
‘Will was not sober at the time. They liked to drink at Za’s and Momo’s in Columbia. Nikki was a big wine drinker. They would sit and canoodle. It was totally out in the open, everyone in SC politics knew about it.
‘I saw [Haley and Marchant] together many times.’
A fourth source, a senior political official in South Carolina, claimed Folks confessed to him he had sex with Haley in her car in a restaurant parking lot.
‘In the South Carolina legislature, there are two types: the people who believe not enough gets done because there aren’t enough lawmakers and lobbyists sleeping together; and the people who are holier than thou and say that having an affair violates the Ten Commandments,’ the political official said.
The claims of Haley’s infidelity were first splashed publicly during her campaign for governor in 2010.
The claims of Haley’s infidelity were first splashed publicly during her campaign for governor in 2010. She is alleged to have begun her affair with Folks in 2007 and Marchant in 2008
Sources told DailyMail.com Haley and her lover Will Folks were spotted drinking and canoodling at restaurants and bars around Columbia, including Za’s
The two lovers also enjoyed drinks at Momo’s in the state capital
Local paper the Free Times had been investigating Folks and Haley, and when its reporter questioned the male aide in May that year, he decided to preempt the story by admitting to an ‘inappropriate physical relationship’ on his blog, FITSNews.
Haley responded the same day, ‘categorically’ denying the allegations. ‘I have been 100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage,’ she said in a statement.
She doubled down on a Columbia radio station, saying: ‘This claim against me is categorically and totally false,’ calling it ‘South Carolina politics at its worst.’
Folks, who had been a public supporter of her gubernatorial campaign, then posted text messages on his blog that purported to show others knew of the alleged affair.
The texts were between Folks, Haley’s then-Chief of Staff Tim Pearson, and Wesley Donehue, a consultant for one of her political opponents.
‘I don’t give a f**k [if] you believe me or not. You[‘re] the one who screwed her. You’re the one who bragged about it,’ Donehue wrote to Folks in one of the purported texts.
Pearson encouraged Folks to deny the affair, allegedly writing that if they ‘keep this under wraps [Haley] is going to win.’
The following month, Marchant came forward with his claim of a 2008 one-night stand with Haley.
‘After a night together of dinner and drinks with other participants of the conference, Representative Haley and I returned to the hotel together,’ Marchant said.
Haley has insisted she is ‘100% faithful’ husband Michael Haley (pictured together during a fundraiser in Iowa last June) and now frequently cites him as a reason for her presidential candidacy
Haley first responded to the allegations when they emerged in 2010 in a statement insisting she has been ‘100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage’
‘We went back to her room where we had sexual intercourse and I spent the remainder of the evening. I left her room at approximately 6 a.m.’
At the time, Haley’s spokesman Pearson called the allegation a ‘false and outrageous desperate attack from a losing candidate’s paid campaign consultant in the final week of the race.’
Pearson was referencing the fact that Marchant had only just quit as then-Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer’s campaign against Haley in the gubernatorial Republican primary, after getting paid more than $50,000.
The scandal failed to suppress her campaign. Haley served as governor until 2017, when she became ambassador to the United Nations under the Trump administration.
The GOP insider marveled at Haley’s ability to shrug off the allegations, which would have killed many politicians’ bids – regardless of their veracity.
‘She’s smart, an incredible operator, has a tremendous ability to put a force field around herself,’ he said.
‘She’s got an incredible ability to parry and power through bad press. She has the Southern charm of Bill Clinton and the ruthlessness of Richard Nixon.’