Nikki Haley Resigns As Ambassador To United Nations, Trump Says She Will Leave ‘At The End Of The Year’

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, resigned on Tuesday, less than two years into her tenure as the envoy.

According to several reports, 46-year-old Haley met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at 10:30 a.m. EST Tuesday. Trump tweeted that a “big announcement” concerning her would come at that time.

Trump said Tuesday Haley would leave “at the end of the year.” This strongly suggests Haley is likely not the mysterious administration official who wrote the anonymous New York Times op-ed last month about being a member of the resistance against Trump.

Haley’s departure now leaves the Trump administration with one less moderate conservative, and follows that of dozens of other White House officials since the president took office in January 2017. Haley officially began working as ambassador to the U.N. just days after Trump’s inauguration, after serving as Republican governor of South Carolina for six years.

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Haley is a first-generation American who was born to Indian parents. She championed global trade and free markets and condemned the Confederate flags that flew in South Carolina after a shooting at a black Episcopal church in Charleston in June 2015 left nine people dead.

Throughout Trump’s campaign for president in 2016, Haley was more outspoken than others in the Administration about the former Apprentice host’s behavior and said it could pose a threat to the U.S.’s relationships with its allies should he be elected.

In April, Haley responded to claims from people like National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow that she was confused over seemingly contradictory statements the White House had made regarding potential sanctions on Russia.

“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” Haley famously said. Her reply drew praise from many feminist social media users.

Haley also made some controversial remarks during her time as ambassador. In June, she said she believed it was “patently ridiculous” for the U.N. to examine extreme poverty in the U.S.

The former South Carolina governor also stated in December 2017 — when the #MeToo movement was gaining strength — that women who had accused Trump of sexual harassment or sexual assault “should be heard,” a stance that distinguished her from many other White House officials who like the president denied or dismissed the allegations.

According to the New York Times, Haley also frequently had a contentious relationship with her former superior, ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. 

Earlier this year, journalist and Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff suggested he believed Haley and Trump were having an extramarital affair on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and was kicked off the latter program for pushing this theory. Co-host Mika Brzezinski slammed Wolff for making this unsubstantiated claim, which Haley denied.