Donald Trump Says He Won't Invite Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo to ...

3 days ago

BNN

(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump said he won’t invite his former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join his new administration.

“I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country,” he said in a Saturday post on Truth Social.

Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, ran against Trump in the Republican primary this year, winning over billionaires on Wall Street while struggling to gain the support of Trump’s base. Republicans of the old GOP guard saw her candidacy as a last chance to reclaim their hold on the party.

From Ken Griffin to the Koch Group to Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, high-profile conservatives on Wall Street and in Washington who had been turned off by the Trump’s vindictive tone and the volatility of his first term had been willing to bet that Haley could cut off his path to a third consecutive nomination.

Pompeo, a Trump loyalist, also served as the Central Intelligence Agency director under him. Names being floated for secretary of state include Ric Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, and Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury chief.

Republicans are on track to win total control of government, having gained the White House and the Senate while leading in the race for the House of Representatives. That means Trump’s nominees for 4,000 government posts, including more than two dozen cabinet officials, could sail through the confirmation process in the Senate.

Trump recently announced Florida Republican operative Susie Wiles would be his chief of staff. Wiles, who Trump has called “the ice baby” and said “likes to stay in the background,” was the first to get a prized post in the new administration as hordes of party loyalists jockey for cabinet positions in Washington.

President Joe Biden will host Trump at the White House on Nov. 13 for their first post-election meeting, setting in motion the US transition of power that will be completed in January.

They’ll convene in the Oval Office at 11 a.m. at Biden’s invitation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Saturday in a statement.