indica News Bureau
Indian American Nikki Haley announced her resignation Tuesday, a move that took Washington by surprise.
Appearing in the Oval Office, where she was given rare warm send off by President Donald Trump, Haley said she believes that this is time for her to go after eight years of hectic public like, six years of which was as Governor of South Carolina.
Trump has accepted her resignation and said that he would be announcing her replacement in the next few weeks.
“I wanted to do this (Oval Office send-off) because Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations, has been very special to me. She’s done an incredible job. She’s a fantastic person, very importantly. But she also is somebody that gets it,” Trump said.
According to the President, Trump has been at the United Nations from the beginning. “With us from the beginning and worked with us on the campaign. It’s been, really, a long time. Very intense. And she told me probably six months she said, “You know, maybe at the end of the year — at the end of a two-year period but the end of the year, I want to take a little time off, I want to take a little break,” he said.
“She’s been a very successful, as you know, governor of South Carolina for eight years. And then she did this. This is possibly the more intense with what’s going on in the world, and very dangerous and a lot of things. But she’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together. We’ve solved a lot of problems and we’re in the process of solving a lot of problems,” Trump said.
“At the beginning, North Korea was a massive problem, and now we’re moving along. It’s moving along really nicely. I can speak for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He thinks the world of Nikki,” said the US president
Trump said Haley would staying in this position till the end of the year. He praised Haley for her role at the UN. “That was really the thing I think she did best at the United Nations, she got to know the players. She got to know China, Russia, India. She knows everybody on a very first-hand basis,” he said.
Haley said that this “been an honor of a lifetime.”
“I said I am such a lucky girl. To have been able to lead the state that raised me and to serve a country I love so very much has really been a blessing and I want to thank you for that,” she said as she listed out some of her accomplishments at the UN and Trump’s foreign policy.
“Look at the two years. Look at what has happened in two years with the United States on foreign policy. Now the United States is respected; 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,” she said.
“The president proved that, whether it was with the chemical weapons in Syria, whether it’s with NATO saying that other countries have to pay their share, whether it’s the trade deals, which have been amazing, they get that the president means business and they follow through with that,” she said.
Haley also praised the family of the president. “The first lady has been nothing but very, very kind to me. I can’t say enough good things about Jared and Ivanka. Jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands. I mean, to redo the NAFTA deal the way he did; what I’ve done working with him on the Middle East Peace Plan, it’s so unbelievably well done. And Ivanka has been just a great friend,” she said.
“They do a lot of things behind the scenes that I wish more people knew about, because we’re a better country because they’re in this administration. I also just have to say, certainly, thank you to my family. Michael is a saint. And my two little ones, I adore them,” Haley said.
Haley ruled out a 2020 presidential bid. “No, I am not running in 2020 (presidential elections). I look forward to supporting the president in the next election,” said the first ever Indian American in any presidential cabinet.
Vice President Mike Pence praised Haley. “Heartful thanks to Ambassador Nikki Haley for her extraordinary service as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Nikki Haley served our nation with distinction, faithfully advancing President Trump’s America First agenda and she will be missed,” Pence said.
Her frank and clear-eyed assessment of global threats as well as much-needed reform at the UN were in the best tradition of American leadership, Pence said.
“Nikki Haley has been a clear, consistent, and powerful voice for America’s interests and democratic principles on the world stage. She challenged friend and foe to be better,” House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said that Haley has “a very bright future and will be a key player in both the future” of the Republican Party and the United Stat as a whole for years to come. She “has done an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the United Nations and showed a level of effectiveness rarely seen by someone in this position,” said the top Republican Senator.
“She is a clear, concise voice for American leadership, American values, and has been a true agent of reform when it came to the United Nations,” Graham said.
