In a surprising development, Nikki Haley has resigned as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, and President Donald Trump has accepted her resignation, ANI and Fox News reported on Tuesday, 9 October.
Haley, meanwhile, also said that she will not be running in the 2020 elections and that she will campaign for Trump. Trump, on the other hand, said that she is leaving to take a break.
“Nikki Haley did an incredible job, she is leaving at the end of the year to take a break.”Donald Trump
In a statement post-announcement, Haley thanked the US President for the opportunity, while adding that it had been an “immense honour” to serve the country.
The resignation has come ahead of the “big announcement” with Haley at the White House that Trump had earlier tweeted about.
Congressional and Trump administration officials told the Associated Press that Haley plans to resign. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to speak on the record ahead of Trump's announcement. They did not provide a reason.
Haley was appointed to the UN post in November 2016.
Before she was named by Trump to her UN post, Haley was governor of South Carolina, the first woman to hold the post. She was re-elected in 2014.
The Associated Press reported that Nikki is likely to meet Trump shortly.
According to The New York Times, Haley had been a frequent critic of Trump. Hence, her appointment in 2016 was seen as a ray of hope.
However, last month she wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post, discussing her policy disagreements but also her pride in working for Trump.
It came in response to an anonymous essay in The New York Times by a senior administration official that alleged there to be a secret "resistance" effort from the Right in Trump's administration.
(With inputs from ANI, AP, Fox News and the New York Times)
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