Donald Trump's Aura Has 'Peeled Away,' Says Top Republican Donor

Donald Trump's "aura of invincibility is just peeled away completely" according to a prominent Republican donor who is co-hosting an upcoming fundraiser for Nikki Haley's presidential campaign.

The comments were made by Eric Levine, head of the litigation and bankruptcy department at corporate law firm Eiseman Levine Lehrhaupt & Kakoyiannis, and a former donor to Senator Tim Scott's defunct presidential campaign.

Trump remains the clear front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination though his route back to the White House could be complicated by his four ongoing criminal cases. According to a Washington Post/Monmouth University poll released on November 17, Haley has emerged as the clear second favorite with GOP primary voters—with 18 percent support versus 49 percent for the former president—with previous chief rival Ron DeSantis pushed into fifth.

In an interview with The New York Times, Levine pointed to Haley's surge as proof that Trump could be defeated.

"There were people that don't like Trump at all but were very skeptical that he could be stopped," Levine said. "They now believe he can be stopped. His aura of invincibility is just peeled away completely."

Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump for comment via the press inquiry form on his official website.

Levine is one of eight people listed as hosts on invitations to a major fundraiser for Haley that is due to take place on December 4. Haley has also received financial support from billionaire Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone, who said he was "very impressed with her."

"I think she's a viable candidate. I would certainly like her over Trump," he said.

Haley received a profile boost in the third Republican presidential debate on November 9, where she called for continued U.S. support for Ukraine against Moscow's invasion and called rival Vivek Ramaswamy "scum" after he referenced her daughter in a row over TikTok.

A Marquette Law School poll conducted earlier this month found Haley would beat Joe Biden by 10 points in a straight presidential matchup, while Trump would only beat the Democratic incumbent by 2 points.

Trump is facing four criminal trials on charges related to claims he orchestrated the payment of hush money to a pornographic actress, mishandled classified documents, and broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election both across the U.S. and in the state of Georgia, specifically. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all counts and insists the cases against him are politically motivated.

This week Trump did have one legal win when an appeals court upheld a lower court's ruling allowing the GOP front-runner to remain on his party's primary ballot in New Hampshire. The case was brought by a rival Republican who argued Trump was ineligible to serve as president under the 14th Amendment, which rules that anyone who takes an oath to support the U.S. Constitution, then engages in "insurrection or rebellion," is ineligible to run for office again.