President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday named Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina as his choice to become ambassador to the United Nations, adding to his prospective cabinet a former critic with whom he had sparred bitterly.
Ms. Haley’s name had previously been mentioned as a possible contender to become Mr. Trump’s secretary of state, and she met with Trump transition officials last week in New York.
Her selection was first reported by the The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C. The news of Ms. Haley’s selection came after days of criticism of Mr. Trump’s early picks as a homogeneous bloc of older, white men. If confirmed, Ms. Haley would step down as governor and be replaced by the state’s lieutenant governor, Henry McMaster, who was an early and vocal supporter of Mr. Trump.
Ms. Haley, 44, supported Senator Marco Rubio of Florida during the Republican primaries, and she was a prominent and frequent critic of Mr. Trump early in his run.
That criticism was thought to have kept her off Mr. Trump’s list of vice-presidential candidates, although her name was mentioned in passing before he chose Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana.
Ms. Haley called out Mr. Trump in January when she gave the official Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address, and she later took him to task for his failure to condemn groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
“Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference,” Ms. Haley said in the State of the Union rebuttal. “That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume.”
In a follow-up interview on the “Today” show on NBC, Ms. Haley — the daughter of immigrants from India — said, “Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.”
Mr. Trump responded harshly to that address, calling her “weak” on immigration and noting that she had asked him for campaign contributions.
“She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration,” Mr. Trump said. “She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration. You can’t have that.”
The following month, she condemned Mr. Trump for not speaking out against white supremacy more forcefully.
Ms. Haley drew on South Carolina’s experience last year with the murder of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church, saying that was exactly the kind of hate that Mr. Trump refused to repudiate.
“The K.K.K. came to South Carolina from out of state to protest on our Statehouse grounds,” she said at a rally in Georgia. “I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the K.K.K. That is not a part of our party. That is not who we are.”
Supporters of Mr. Trump were angered that Ms. Haley called him out, and many took to Twitter and mocked her Indian heritage, making fun of her Indian given name. Some of that sentiment reappeared on social media once word began circulating that Ms. Haley was likely to be chosen to be part of the Trump administration.
Still, in a primary season interview with CNN, Ms. Haley urged Mr. Trump not to take her comments personally, and said that she considered him a friend.
“I have disagreements with other presidential candidates,” Ms. Haley said. “There’s lots of things, but I will say tone matters, message matters and responsibility matters.”
If nominated by Mr. Trump and confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Haley, now in her second term as South Carolina governor, would succeed Samantha Power, who has represented the United States at the United Nations since 2013. Source: The New York Times.
President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday named Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina as his choice to become ambassador to the United Nations, adding to his prospective cabinet a former critic with whom he had sparred bitterly.
Ms. Haley’s name had previously been mentioned as a possible contender to become Mr. Trump’s secretary of state, and she met with Trump transition officials last week in New York.
Her selection was first reported by the The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C. The news of Ms. Haley’s selection came after days of criticism of Mr. Trump’s early picks as a homogeneous bloc of older, white men. If confirmed, Ms. Haley would step down as governor and be replaced by the state’s lieutenant governor, Henry McMaster, who was an early and vocal supporter of Mr. Trump.
Ms. Haley, 44, supported Senator Marco Rubio of Florida during the Republican primaries, and she was a prominent and frequent critic of Mr. Trump early in his run.
That criticism was thought to have kept her off Mr. Trump’s list of vice-presidential candidates, although her name was mentioned in passing before he chose Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana.
Ms. Haley called out Mr. Trump in January when she gave the official Republican rebuttal to President Obama’s State of the Union address, and she later took him to task for his failure to condemn groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
“Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference,” Ms. Haley said in the State of the Union rebuttal. “That is just not true. Often, the best thing we can do is turn down the volume.”
In a follow-up interview on the “Today” show on NBC, Ms. Haley — the daughter of immigrants from India — said, “Mr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.”
Mr. Trump responded harshly to that address, calling her “weak” on immigration and noting that she had asked him for campaign contributions.
“She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration,” Mr. Trump said. “She’s very, very weak on illegal immigration. You can’t have that.”
The following month, she condemned Mr. Trump for not speaking out against white supremacy more forcefully.
Ms. Haley drew on South Carolina’s experience last year with the murder of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church, saying that was exactly the kind of hate that Mr. Trump refused to repudiate.
“The K.K.K. came to South Carolina from out of state to protest on our Statehouse grounds,” she said at a rally in Georgia. “I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the K.K.K. That is not a part of our party. That is not who we are.”
Supporters of Mr. Trump were angered that Ms. Haley called him out, and many took to Twitter and mocked her Indian heritage, making fun of her Indian given name. Some of that sentiment reappeared on social media once word began circulating that Ms. Haley was likely to be chosen to be part of the Trump administration.
Still, in a primary season interview with CNN, Ms. Haley urged Mr. Trump not to take her comments personally, and said that she considered him a friend.
“I have disagreements with other presidential candidates,” Ms. Haley said. “There’s lots of things, but I will say tone matters, message matters and responsibility matters.”
If nominated by Mr. Trump and confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Haley, now in her second term as South Carolina governor, would succeed Samantha Power, who has represented the United States at the United Nations since 2013. Source: The New York Times.
