Haley resigns as Trump’s UN ambassador
Although not always in line with president, she was one of his top aides
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump accepted the resignation of U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday, an unexpected departure for one of the president’s longest-serving top aides.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor who was confirmed just days after Trump’s inauguration, announced her decision during a hastily scheduled meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. She said she would leave by the end of the year.
“She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together,” Trump said.
Initially a critic of Trump, Haley helped shepherd in the administration’s tougher stance at the United Nations, including Trump’s decision to leave the U.N. Human Rights Council earlier this year. She is also among the most prominent women in Trump’s Cabinet.
“The U.S. is strong again,” Haley said in the Oval Office. “Countries may not like what we do, but they respect what we do.”
Haley, widely considered a possible candidate for higher office, also sometimes broke ranks with Trump. In the days leading up to this year’s U.N. General Assembly in New York, Haley indicated Trump’s speech before the Security Council would be focused on Iran. White House officials later dismissed that idea, saying the address would focus on controlling weapons of mass destruction.
Tuesday, Haley rejected talk of a presidential campaign and said she intends to support Trump for re-election.
“No, I am not running in 2020,” she said.
The daughter of immigrants from India, Haley was a South Carolina legislator who rode a wave of tea party support to win the governor’s race in 2010.
She won re-election in 2014 but cut her second term short to join Trump’s diplomatic team.
But while she’s one of Trump’s longest-serving aides, there has been friction between the two.
In April, White House aides criticized Haley for getting ahead of the administration in announcing Russia sanctions. Haley, meanwhile, bristled at top economic adviser Larry Kudlow’s suggestion that the U.N. ambassador had “momentary confusion” over the issue.
“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” Haley replied in a statement.
Haley sometimes clashed with Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. But she was in sync with Tillerson’s replacement, Mike Pompeo, a former conservative congressman and previous CIA director, as well as national security adviser John Bolton.
She also publicly aired her differences with Trump over his support for Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, who had been accused of inappropriate sexual advances on teenage girls. She said women who accuse powerful men of sexual misconduct “should be heard.”
Haley was also reportedly upset at Trump’s comments expressing sympathy for white supremacists who demonstrated in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Brett Bruen, who served as the global engagement director in the Obama administration, said Haley’s resignation was a “significant blow” to the Trump administration.
“At the U.N., it’s not a situation where you get to parachute in and affect immediately change,” Bruen said. “You have to get to know the ambassadors, you have to get to know the institution. … For her to walk away halfway through that process leaves the United States vulnerable at a very serious time.”