“In the span of 24 hours, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has done what none of her colleagues in President Trump’s Cabinet have before: successfully telegraphed to her boss that she will not quietly suffer his public humiliations,” Politico reports.
“The incident has met with silence from the president and his loyalists but has only helped to burnish Haley’s image outside of the White House.”
President Trump “put the brakes on a preliminary plan to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia, walking back a Sunday announcement by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that the Kremlin had swiftly denounced as ‘international economic raiding,'” the Washington Post reports.
“The Trump team decided to publicly characterize Haley’s announcement as a misstatement.”
“I have literally been on Air Force One once and there were several people in the room when I was there. He says that I’ve been talking a lot with the president in the Oval about my political future. I’ve never talked once to the president about my future and I am never alone with him.”
— U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in an interview with Politico, denying rumors she’s having an affair with President Trump.
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley “may have been fooled by a pair of Russian pranksters pretending to be the prime minister of Poland. The duo, known as Vovan and Lexus, claims to have arranged a crank phone call Thursday with the former South Carolina governor,” the Charleston Post and Courier reports.
“The pair, whose real names are Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, posted a nearly 22-minute video clip this weekend in which a woman who sounds like Haley speaks to a man who she thinks is the new Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Between questions about Ukraine and Russia, the fake prime minister asked Haley about Binomo — a fake island that does not exist.”
“You know Binomo?” the prankster said.
“Yes, yes,” Haley responded.
“They had elections and we suppose Russians had its intervention,” the joker said.
“Yes, of course they did, absolutely,” Haley said.
“The president’s advisers were stunned Sunday when one of the highest-ranking women in the Trump administration broke with the White House line and said the accusers’ voices ‘should be heard,'” the AP reports.
“Haley’s comments infuriated the president… Trump has grown increasingly angry in recent days that the accusations against him have resurfaced, telling associates that the charges are false and drawing parallels to the accusations facing Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.”
United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley said that it was an “open question” whether American athletes would be able to attend the Olympics in South Korea in February given the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the New York Times reports.
CNN: “Nikki Haley was under consideration to become Donald Trump’s secretary of state when she flew to New York to meet the President-elect for the first time since his election victory. The South Carolina governor was torn. The baggage from the 2016 campaign — she supported Marco Rubio in her state’s all-important presidential primary and later backed Ted Cruz — didn’t suddenly evaporate for Trump, who never forgets a slight.”
“But there was something more fundamental that bothered her: Her resume. Yes, Haley traveled abroad as governor and she was successful in bringing business into the state. But none of that could prepare her to lead American diplomacy in a world where North Korea was becoming more aggressive, the crisis in Syria was deepening, Venezuela was succumbing to a dictator and the war in Afghanistan showed no sign of easing. She told Trump no.”
Foreign Policy: Where’s Rex? U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley steps in as America’s de facto diplomat-in-chief.
“U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has lost two of her top aides, key departures that come at a time of growing international tensions between the U.S. and North Korea,” Bloomberg reports.
“Haley’s Chief of Staff Steven Groves resigned, as did her communications director Jonathan Wachtel. Haley said on Twitter Wednesday it was because of ‘family concerns.'”
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New York Times: “The United States ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has often been the first, most outspoken member of the Trump administration to weigh in on key foreign policy issues, on everything from military strikes on Syria to sanctions against Russia and how to approach human rights. Much of that has come as a surprise to the State Department, and the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has often been far from the limelight.”
“Now, in an apparent attempt to foster greater coherence in American foreign policy, State Department officials are urging her aides to ensure her public remarks are cleared by Washington first.”
President Trump joked that if members of the United Nations Security Council don’t like U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, she “could easily be replaced,” The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Does everybody like Nikki? Because if you don’t… she can easily be replaced, right?”
“Regime change is something that we think is going to happen because all of the parties are going to see that Assad is not the leader that needs to be taking place for Syria… There’s not any sort of option where a political solution is going to happen with Assad at the head of the regime.”
— U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in an interview on CNN.
“When you undertake a violent regime change in Libya, and the situation in Libya continues to be very chaotic and I would argue that the life of the Libyan people has — is not all that well off today, so I think we have to learn the lessons of the past and learn the lessons of what went wrong in Libya when you choose that pathway of regime change.”
— Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in an interview on ABC News.
“In Donald Trump’s first meeting with Nikki Haley, on November 17, he asked her to serve as his secretary of state. Haley turned him down, according to two sources familiar with the conversation, telling the president-elect that she lacked the requisite foreign policy experience for the job,” Politico reports.
“The former South Carolina governor wound up instead as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — the first to enjoy Cabinet rank in a Republican administration since Jeane Kirkpatrick during Ronald Reagan’s first term. And with Rex Tillerson conducting his job almost entirely out of public view, Haley has improbably eclipsed the secretary of state as the country’s leading voice on foreign affairs.”
Washington Post: Haley emerges as tough-talking bellwether of Trump’s foreign policy.
President-elect Donald Trump is picking South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to become his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the Charleston Post and Courier has learned.
“The move, expected Wednesday, continues the steep political rise of the daughter of Indian immigrants that started six years ago when the Bamberg native was elected as South Carolina’s first female and minority governor.”
Washington Post: “If confirmed, Haley would be replaced by South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, a top Trump ally. His ascension is seen inside of Trump’s inner circle as a welcome consequence of her departure, the person said — a way to promote them both.”
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) “is reaffirming her support for Donald Trump, vowing to vote for the GOP nominee despite his attacks on her earlier this year,” CNN reports.
“This election is not rigged, and it’s irresponsible to say that it is. Faith in the democratic process is one of America’s greatest strengths, and it’s more important than the outcome of any election.”
— South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), quoted by the Charleston Post and Courier.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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