In a move that caught administration officials off guard, Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump’s U.N. ambassador, has resigned.
During an Oval Office announcement Tuesday, Trump and Haley confirmed that she would leave his administration at the end of the year.
“We’re all happy for you in one way, but hate to lose you,” Trump said, sitting alongside the ambassador. “At the end of the year, Nikki will be leaving.” The interaction between the two was warm and they spent time praising each other.
A source close to Haley insisted she’s leaving on good terms and that she was not forced out. But inside the White House, officials were caught off guard by her announcement, learning of it from reporters who started inquiring, two White House officials told NBC News.
Two other officials said there was disappointment in the West Wing that Haley chose to step down before the midterm elections in less than a month.
On the Hill, several Democrats and Republicans working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said they were also caught by surprise.
Haley said serving as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has been “the honor of a lifetime.” She added that she didn’t know what’s next for her, but that she would not be running for president in 2020, but would instead be supporting Trump’s re-election.
“It’s been eight years of intense time and I’m a believer in term limits,” she said, referring to her six-year tenure as governor of South Carolina and two years as ambassador. “I think you have to be selfless enough to know when you step aside”
She also touted foreign policy accomplishments, such as North Korea sanctions packages, moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, and pressuring NATO members to pay more.
“Now, the United States is respected,” she said. “Countries may not like what we do, but they respect what we do.”
Trump declined to name Haley’s successor — saying he would announce his selection within two or three weeks — but noted he had heard from a number of people who would like the job.
Trump said Tuesday morning that Haley had come to him six month ago and asked to take a break.
In September, Haley wrote in The Washington Post that she felt compelled to respond to the anonymous opinion article published in The New York Times, in which an unnamed senior official claimed to be part of the “resistance” within the Trump administration attempting to thwart “parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”
In The Post, she wrote, “I, too, am a senior Trump administration official. I proudly serve in this administration, and I enthusiastically support most of its decisions and the direction it is taking the country.”
“But I don’t agree with the president on everything,” Haley added. “When there is disagreement, there is a right way and a wrong way to address it. I pick up the phone and call him or meet with him in person.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Twitter that Haley “has been a clear, consistent, and powerful voice for America’s interests and democratic principles on the world stage.”
“I am saddened that she is leaving the administration, but so grateful for her service,” he wrote.
Haley, considered a rising star within the GOP, was easily confirmed to her U.N. post in January 2017 by the Senate with bipartisan support, 96-4.
Mi tink a run she did ago run fi president but she seh no she waah more money unda dese conditions.
Sin done fall pon har generation to come already. That Israel deal only solidify dem position to carryout genocide against the Palestinians.
:thumbup “Dat Mi Seh” there goes another position open :thumbup for you! Your twisted views on international affairs would be just suitable for your boss :thumbup