Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Donald Trump‘s first administration, has wished the president-elect “great success” after he ruled her out of joining his next Cabinet.
Haley, who ran against the former president in the 2024 GOP primary, was reacting to Trump announcing on Truth Social that neither she nor former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be given roles when he returns to the White House next year.
“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 posted on X, formerly Twitter: “I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations. I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years.”
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, was not thought to be in major consideration to join Trump in his next Cabinet following the pair’s bitter primary race. Pompeo was said to be a top contender to become secretary of defense in the next Republican administration.
The president-elect’s decision to not give Haley or Pompeo a Cabinet position arrived after top Trump ally Roger Stone singled out the pair as being “neocons” who might form “a sinister fifth column” within Trump’s 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.
Newsweek has contacted Pompeo’s office and Trump’s team for comment via email.
Haley was Trump’s last remaining challenger in the 2024 GOP primary before dropping out following Super Tuesday in March. Haley managed to beat Trump in Washington, D.C., becoming the first woman to win a Republican primary in U.S. history, as well as in Vermont.
Haley still received significant support in the GOP primary even after she withdrew from the race, prompting speculation that disillusioned moderate Republicans and so-called “Never Trumpers” could have a major influence in the November 5 general election.
Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned heavily on convincing Republicans to vote for her over Trump, including appearing on the campaign trail several times with former GOP Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
In the end, just 5 percent of registered Republican voters voted for Harris, according to a CNN exit poll. This is only slightly more than the 4 percent of registered Democrats who voted for Trump over the vice president.
Haley went on to endorse Trump during a talk at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, in May.
She also backed the Republican presidential candidate in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal headlined “Trump Isn’t Perfect, but He’s the Better Choice.”
“I don’t agree with Mr. Trump 100 percent of the time. But I do agree with him most of the time, and I disagree with Ms. Harris nearly all the time. That makes this an easy call,” Haley wrote in the piece published two days before Election Day.
Trump is being projected to have won Arizona, giving him a clean sweep of all seven main battleground states and an expected final total of 312 Electoral College votes.
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