Despite her pointed rhetoric – warning any country who voted against the US that she was “taking names” – she succeeded in convincing Trump that the UN served a useful purpose for US national interests. Her departure will raise anxiety levels for US allies at the UN. The diplomat speculated she could have her eye on a South Carolina Senate seat, or that her departure could have been influenced by recent demands for an enquiry into her use of private jets last year provided by a South Carolina businessman, but expressed doubt over whether the allegations were serious enough to trigger an early departure. Why would she go before the midterms?” a senior diplomat said. “I thought she would go after two years, but two years isn’t up. She was universally seen as a politician using the UN post to burnish her image and bide her time while it served her presidential ambitions. She appears not to have given any indication of her intentions to colleagues on the security council.īut few of the diplomats she worked with expected her to stay in the UN role for the full four years of Trump’s presidential term. The timing of Haley’s departure caught diplomats at the UN by surprise. On other issues – unconditional support for Israel (the Israeli army took the unusual step of tweeting thanks for her “service”), unflinching hostility to Iran, North Korea and Venezuela – she was the most articulate exponent of hardline positions.Įarlier this year, she announced that the US was withdrawing from the United Nations human rights council, which she described as a “cesspool of political bias”. She also spoke out on human rights issues more frequently and fervently than others in the state department. Haley fired back icily: “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.” In April she was humiliated when she announced imminent sanctions only to be contradicted by the White House which suggested she had been suffering from “momentary confusion”. While Trump has been reticent about criticising the Kremlin, Haley was a persistent, trenchant critic of Russian policy in Syria and Ukraine, and over the chemical weapon attack against a former Russian spy in the UK in March. However, she pursued an outspoken policy direction that was sometimes at odds with the White House, particularly on the subject of Russia. A former governor of South Carolina, Haley has been one of Trump’s most high-profile lieutenants, acting as the international face of the administration. Haley has portrayed herself as a defender of women’s rights, though there is no evidence Trump’s derision of Ford was the immediate trigger for her decision. The resignation letter was dated 3 October, the day after Trump appeared at a political rally in Mississippi and mocked Dr Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused Trump’s nominee for the supreme court of sexual assault. In her resignation letter, published by the Washington Post, Haley said she was going back to the private sector, though she said she expected to “speak out from time to time on important public policy matters”. She rejected speculation that she was leaving to take a run at the presidency, saying she had no plans to stand in 2020 and would be campaigning for Trump. It is unclear why Haley made the announcement before the midterm elections. She said: ‘You know, at the end of the year, at the end of a two-year period, I want to take some time off, I want to take a break.’” Trump said: “She told me probably six months ago.
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