Daily News – United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is stepping down from her post at the end of the year, President Trump announced Tuesday in a unusually cordial Oval Office send-off.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, and the President showered one another with praise as they revealed the latest high-profile departure from the Trump administration.
Unlike the more unceremonious exits most parting Trump officials have received, the President pulled out all the stops for his top UN diplomat.
“She’s done an incredible job. She’s a fantastic person, very importantly, but she also is somebody that gets it,” Trump said as the pair sat beside one another.
“She knows everybody. On a first name basis, and they like her. Except for maybe a couple, which is normal,” he said. “They can’t all like you, but they do. They really like her, and I think maybe more importantly, they respect her.”
Trump said he has not yet picked a replacement, but said prospective candidates are scrambling to fill Haley’s shoes.”She’s made it a glamorous position. She’s made it a more important, more importantly, a more important position,” he said.
Axios first reported the President had accepted Haley’s resignation.
Haley thanked Trump and the entire First Family, name-dropping the President’s son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner and First Daughter Ivanka, before calling her time as ambassador “an honor of a lifetime.”
She called Kushner a “hidden genius” for his work on NAFTA and the Middle East before labeling Ivanka Trump a “great friend” and praising the couple for doing a lot of work “behind the scenes.”
Trump later fueled speculation that he was considering nominating his eldest daughter to the post.
The President said his daughter would be “dynamite,” but acknowledged the bad optics of such a move.
“But then I would be accused of nepotism, could you believe it,” he told reporters as he left the White house for a political rally in Iowa. “Then I would be accused of nepotism, although I’m not sure there’s anyone more competent in the world.”
Trump also said he’s considering Dina Powell, his former deputy national security adviser, for the position.
Haley saved her biggest praise for the President himself, applauding his role as world leader.
“Now the United States is respected,” she said. “Countries may not like what we do, but they respect what we do. They know that if we say we’re going to do something, we follow it through.”
The Oval Office love-fest was a far cry from other less amicable exits that have plagued Trump’s time in office. The President has often tweeted out senior administration shake-ups and seen a string of officials step down amid clouds of controversy.
Major players such as former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster have resigned amid widespread speculation that they clashed with Trump.
Others, like former embattled Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt and Veterans Affairs czar David Shulkin, stepped down as they faced questions about ethics violations.
Haley, a rising star in the Republican party before joining the Trump administration, has been a staunch supporter of the President’s rough-and-tumble stances on foreign policy. On her first day at the international body, she warned “those that don’t have our back, we’re taking names.”
The 46-year-old has also openly clashed with the President and contradicted him on more than one occasion.
Before joining the Trump team, Haley said during the 2016 campaign that she was “not a fan” of the reality TV star.
Trump, in turn, tweeted at the time that “the people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley!”
Haley was appointed to the UN post in November 2016 and coordinated Trump’s second trip to the institution’s New York headquarters last month, a trip that included his first time chairing the UN Security Council.
Trump drew laughter from world leaders and diplomats when he boasted before the UN general assembly that his “has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
He insisted later that the delegates were laughing with him, not at him.
Haley oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Counsel, which Haley considered the organization’s “greatest failure,” and touted reductions in spending.
Late last year, Haley announced the U.S. was slashing the amount of funds it sends to the UN, calling it a “big step in the right direction.”
Haley secured tough Security Council sanction resolutions against North Korea — which the administration has credited with bringing Kim Jong Un to the negotiating table.
She has also backed Trump’s efforts to cut off funds for the UN organization that aid Palestinians, echoed his attacks on Iran, and pushed back against countries that voted against the moving of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Haley has also had her disagreements with the President, saying she had a “personal conversation” with Trump about his response to white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Va. last year.
In April, White House aides openly criticized Haley for discussing sanctions against Russia ahead of the administration.
Haley voiced her displeasure with the White House’s handling of the situation after economic aide Larry Kudlow suggested that she had “momentary confusion” over the issue.
“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” Haley responded in a statement.
Haley, long considered a possible contender for higher office, shot down speculation that she is eyeing her own run for the White House as she sat beside the President.
“I will say this. For all of you that are going to ask about 2020, no, I’m not running for 2020,” she said with a smile. “I can promise you what I’ll be doing is campaigning for this one. So I look forward to supporting the President in the next election.”
