US President Donald Trump has accepted the resignation of the US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. The resignation was a rather unexpected departure of a long-serving top aide to the President.
The announcement came during a quickly scheduled meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. She said she will be leaving by end of year.
Teasing an announcement in the Oval Office this morning, Trump called Haley “my friend.” “Big announcement with my friend Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Oval Office at 10:30am,” he tweeted. Axios was first to report the news that Haley resigned.
Big announcement with my friend Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Oval Office at 10:30am.
USA Today reports that Haley, widely considered as a possible candidate for higher office, dismissed talk of a presidential campaign.
The former South Carolina governor was tapped as ambassador to the UN following Trump’s election win despite supporting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in her state’s all-important 2016 presidential primary and later backing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. During her more than a year-and-a-half on the job, she has repeatedly spoken her mind, whether it’s going further on human rights than many of her administration colleagues or denouncing racism at home, CNN said.
The report on New York Times says that Ms. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, had been an early and frequent critic of Mr. Trump, so when he named her the envoy to the world body weeks after his election in November 2016, the appointment was seen as an olive branch. It added : “As ambassador, Ms. Haley was an outspoken and often forceful envoy — someone whom foreign diplomats looked to for guidance from an administration known for haphazard and inconsistent policy positions. She was quick to voice her own opinions on the big policy issues that are high on her agenda, like Iran and North Korea. And she has cast herself as someone who can sway her mercurial boss on issues like Russia sanctions, refugee resettlement and the value of the United Nations itself.
