The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Haley draws bipartisan laughs at charity dinner
During an address to an annual charity dinner in New York on Thursday night, outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the daughter of immi- grants from India, recalled the first time President Donald Trump learned of her heritage.
n the president found out that I was Indian Amer- ican, he asked if I was from the same tribe as Elizabeth Warren,” she quipped, referencing the Democratic senator from Massachusetts who released a DNA test this week that showed she has a distant Native American ancestor.
And so it went during Haley’s 17-minute speech to the 73rd annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. She not only poked fun at her boss and Warren —a potential 2020 rival — but also took playful jabs at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Haley recounted that as she prepared for the dinner — hosted by Cardinal Timo- thy M. Dolan and attended by the state’s political elites — Trump gave her some advice.
“He said if I get stuck for laughs, just brag about his accomplishments,” Haley said. “It really killed at the U.N., I got to tell you.”
That was a reference to a moment last month when Trump boasted in an address to the United Nations General Assembly that his administra- tion had accomplished more in two years than “almost any administration” in American history, prompting laughter.
y, who served as governor of South Carolina before joining the Trump admin- istration, also recalled her upbringing as a minority in the Palmetto State.
“People always wonder if I felt different or isolated as an Indian American growing up in rural South Carolina. Actually, there was a bene- fit,” she said. “It totally prepared me for being a Republican in New York.”
Haley said she had seen Sessions, Trump’s embattled attorney general, earlier in the day.
“Not in New York,” she added. “I saw him on LinkedIn looking for a job. Actu- ally, we both were.”
She made note of another no-show at the dinner.
“Jeff Flake was going to be here, but he wanted to give the FBI a week to look into it,” Haley said, referring to the senator’s call for a week- long delay in the Senate confirmation process for now-Su- preme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to investigate alle- gations of sexual misconduct when he was in high school.
Haley also said she is look- ing forward to Halloween, taking jabs at Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a rock-ribbed conservative.
“I am still someone who gets very excited about Halloween,” Haley said, “but in this toxic environment, even this causes political arguments. Bernie Sanders wants free candy for everyone. Mitch McConnell calls it a typical Democrat giveaway program. The president says it’s going to be the best Halloween ever — nothing like it ever before, huge!”