Nikki Haley announces resignation as UN ambassador

WASHINGTON — U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley stunned Washington Tuesday morning as she announced her resignation during an appearance with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

“It’s very important for government officials to know when to step aside,” said Haley, who revealed she would remain on the job through the end of the year.

Trump told reporters that six months ago Haley told him that she wanted to leave after hitting the two-year mark.

“She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together,” he said.

A vocal critic of Trump’s campaign rhetoric in 2016, the 46-year-old Haley has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate or a running mate for Vice President Mike Pence after Trump’s time in office.

But she said Tuesday she was not resigning to pursue her own political aspirations. “I’m not running in 2020,” she said.

Haley had been an important member of the Trump foreign policy team — a former South Carolina governor who could talk the language of diplomats while defending Trump’s blunt talk to his international critics. A national security hard-liner, she was sharply critical of Russia, Iran, North Korea and Syria.

Haley praised Trump’s accomplishments the last two years, saying the U.S. is more respected around the world, the U.N. budget has been pared and the U.S. has challenged anti-Israeli sentiments in the U.N.

“Countries might not like what we do, but they respect what we do,” she said.

Haley was appointed to the U.N. post in November 2016. In her resignation letter, she noted that she had served in public office, as ambassador, governor and a state lawmaker for the last 14 years.

Trump said he expected to announce a replacement in the next two to three weeks – he expects many takers as Haley has made the post “a more glamorous position.”

In no time, Twitter became a battle ground for her replacement. Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt tweeted that U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell “is the obvious choice,” while others tweeted photos of Haley sailing last weekend with former Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell.

Later Tuesday, Trump was asked about a rumor that he was considering naming his daughter, Ivanka Trump, to fill Haley’s post. Trump said he thought his daughter, who serves as a senior aide, would be “incredible,” but he did not want to be accused of nepotism. Ivanka Trump also tweeted that she would not be replacing Haley.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley told CNN last year that Trump originally offered to make her his secretary of state, but she declined because “I just thought he could find someone better.” Her departure means the administration will have one less minority in a largely white Cabinet, as well as one less woman.

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, who has been tracking turnover in the Trump administration for the Brookings Institution, observed that Haley is the only Trump Cabinet number “who left on her own volition.”

“She’s basically learned how to do the job and now she’s gone,” Tenpas added.

The announcement elicited praise for Haley from the right. Fox News contributor Guy Benson tweeted that Haley seemed to have departed the Trump administration “100% on her own terms, 100% percent amicably and with an enhanced reputation.”

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., praised Haley as a “tireless champion of America’s interests and values” who was unafraid to call out dictators’ “cheap promises to uphold peace.”

However, ACLU Human rights program director Jamil Dakwar said in a statement, “Haley will leave her post having caused long-term damage to key international human rights bodies and having put the United States in the company of some of the worst human rights abusers.”

Last month Haley brandished her credentials as a Trump loyalist when she wrote an op-ed article for the Washington Post in which she challenged an “anonymous” administration official who wrote that he or she served in the administration to temper Trump’s excesses.

Haley wrote that when she doesn’t agree with Trump she tells him privately, and urged the anonymous op-ed writer to do the same.

“If that doesn’t work, and you are truly bothered by the direction of the administration,” she continued, “then resign on principle.”

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or at 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.