Nikki Haley says she knows Trump’s game: ‘He knew I have no interest’ – Times of India

Nikki Haley said she had no interest in getting a role in the new Trump administration.

Nikki Haley claimed there was an overture from Trump’s side through Trump’s confidante Steve Witkoff to patch things up between the President-elect and the former US ambassador to the United States. On her weekly show Nikki Haley Live, she said she had no interest in being in Trump’s cabinet and Trump knew that but still sent his best friend Steve Witkoff to her house in South Caroline and spoke about a truce between Haley and Donald Trump.
Haley said she told Witkoff that no truce was needed and she was not revolting against Trump but was supporting him and in exchange she did not want anything. “I told him at the time there was no truce needed, that Trump had my support. There was no issues on my end. At that point, he was like, ‘What do you want? Tell me what you want. Is there anything you want?’ I said, ‘There’s nothing I want.’”
As Trump has been announcing the appointments for his administration, he made it a point to announce that Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo would not be a part of his administration. “I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation. I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Nikki Haley replied that she was proud to have worked with Trump previously. “I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward.” Nikki Haley said her husband and son wanted her to be more assertive in her response and make it clear that she had no interest in any role.
“The truth is, I know the game he was playing. I don’t need to play that game, but more importantly, we have to look at the bigger picture. It is time to move on,” Haley explained.
“Do I take it personally? No, that’s who he is. He can be shallow at times, and I think he showed that.”
Haley said she spoke with Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team but did not ask anything for herself. “What I said is, I think it’s really important that Trump surrounds himself with people that are going to tell him the truth, and I mentioned someone I thought would be good for commerce secretary and mentioned that I thought the UN ambassador should be a cabinet pick,” Haley said.