Tuesday October 9, 2018
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, is resigning “to take a little time off” and will leave at the end of the year, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.
Trump said he had accepted Haley’s resignation and would name her successor within two or three weeks.
Haley is the latest in a long list of senior staff members to leave the Trump administration, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired in March.
Appearing beside Haley in the Oval Office, Trump praised her and said he hoped she could come back to the administration in another capacity.
“We’re all happy for you in one way, but we hate to lose (you). ... Hopefully, you’ll be coming back at some point. Maybe a different capacity. You can have your pick,” Trump said.
A former governor of South Carolina who is the daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party and a possible candidate for the 2020 presidential elections.
But she said on Tuesday she would not be running in 2020 and would campaign for Trump.
Earlier this year, Haley, 46, told Reuters that, “Every day I feel like I put body armor on,” to protect U.S. interests at the United Nations.
Haley discussed her resignation with Trump last week when she visited him at the White House, Axios news site reported.