Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations in Donald Trump’s first term, said she wished the incoming administration “great success” after the president-elect said he won’t be asking her to return in his second administration.
Trump announced on Truth Social Saturday that neither Haley, who challenged him for the GOP nomination for president in 2024, nor former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, will be asked to serve in his cabinet again.
“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump wrote. “I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In response Haley, who Trump has called “birdbrain” and mocked her husband’s absence on the trail even though he was deployed overseas, posted on X that she was “proud” to work with him.
“I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations,” she wrote. “I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years.”
X users mocked Haley over her response to the snub.
“Kamala Harris lost the election. Nikky Haley lost her dignity,” anti-Trump Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ana Navarro-Cárdenas wrote.
Newsweek noted that the timing of Trump’s announcement is significant given that Roger Stone previously called Haley and Pompeo “neocons” who might form “a sinister fifth column” in the new administration.
“Pompeo and Haley will be far from the only two infiltrators who attempt to worm their way back into Trump’s good graces and subvert his America First agenda in the administration for their own ends, but they stand as the three most egregious examples of the type of person who should be excluded in the administration,” Stone wrote on his website, according to the outlet.
Trump is reportedly considering Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for the role of US ambassador to the United Nations in his second administration.
