Nikki Haley to Resign as President Trump’s United Nations Ambassador

Nikki Haley has reportedly decided to resign from her position as President Trump’s Ambassador to the United States.

Haley told her staff about her plans to leave the Trump administration on Tuesday morning, according to a report by NBC News. Her decision was first reported by Axios, and then addressed by the president himself on twitter as well.

“Big announcement with my friend Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Oval Office at 10:30am,” he wrote just a few minutes ahead of time.

President Trump then told reporters that Haley has been planning her exit for six months. He said that she wants to “take a break,” and that she will leave the White House at the end of the year. Sources with knowledge of her meeting with staffers confirmed this time line as well, and multiple outlets are now reporting that this is an official resignation and not a temporary break. Insiders also say that the president has officially accepted Haley’s resignation.

Haley is the former governor of South Carolina. She had a lot of bipartisan support when she was appointed as the president’s U.N. Ambassador, with a vote of 96-4. She took the post in January of 2017.

Still, Haley’s tenure has not been without controversy. On Monday, a government watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington formally requested an investigation into Haley, according to a report by The Hill, to see if she had violated federal ethics regulations. Haley’s financial disclosure last year revealed that she had accepted seven free flights between New York and Washington, D.C., all on private jets. Accepting the flights was a direct violation of federal ethics regulations, and likely added up to tens of thousands of dollars worth of travel.

On top of that, it’s been speculated that Haley was the one to write the anonymous New York Times op-ed back in September. Haley finally responded to the accusations in her own op-ed in the Washington Post.

“I, too, am a senior Trump administration official. I proudly serve in this administration, and I enthusiastically support most of its decisions and the direction it is taking the country,” she wrote.

“But I don’t agree with the president on everything,” she went on. “When there is disagreement, there is a right way and a wrong way to address it. I pick up the phone and call him or meet with him in person.”