President of the United States Donald Trump at the outset considered Nikki Haley, the current permanent representative of the country to the UN, as Secretary of State. However, the governor of South Carolina refused, advising Trump to find someone more suitable for the post of head of the foreign policy department. “I understand perfectly when everything is right, and when it is not.” I just thought that he could find someone better, “Hayley told CNN.
According to the diplomat, she returned to South Carolina after a meeting with Trump in New York, and soon she got a call from the head of the White House. He offered her a post of permanent representative to the United Nations, Haley agreed, but she put forward a number of conditions. She wanted to be a part of the US government and the National Security Council of the White House, but the most important thing is to be able to speak frankly and have independence in decision-making.
“I said that I am a politician and I want to be part of the decision-making mechanism,” the diplomat said, according to which the president replied in the affirmative: “We have agreed.” “I did not want to stay in the shadows, or just be an orator talking with my head.” I wanted to talk about what was on my mind, “continued Haley, clarifying that it was this quality that prompted Trump to invite her to become an ambassador to the UN. As the diplomat noted, to her surprise, all conditions were met.
Earlier Foreign Policy magazine reported, referring to its sources in the Washington administration, that Haley allegedly could head the State Department instead of Rex Tillerson. “Last week, there were very persistent rumours that he [Tillerson] is leaving, and she will come to replace him,” the White House employee quotes the publication. The magazine notes that rumors about the resignation of the Secretary of State appeared in early summer, many American media wrote about this earlier. On Wednesday, the State Department declined to comment on the information that the US permanent representative to the United Nations could replace Tillerson.