Nikki Haley said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s claims that he was plotting to replace Mike Pence as Donald Trump’s vice president are “false and slanderous to sell a book”.
The former United Nations ambassador spoke to Fox News on Thursday evening, after the Guardian obtained Pompeo’s upcoming documentary, Never Give An Inch, and repeated his comments about Haley.
Haley resigned from Trump’s job in October 2018. Before that, Pompeo says, she set up a private meeting with Trump in the Oval Office without checking with him.
Pompeo wrote that John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, thought that Haley was accompanied by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner when he presented a “possible option” for Haley to become vice president.
Pompeo also criticized Haley’s actions as UN ambassador and criticized her resignation.
Speaking to Fox News, Haley said: “I don’t know why he said that, but that’s why I stayed out of DC as much as possible, to stay away from this drama.”
He also said that Pompeo says in his book that he does not know if the story is true.
Haley and Pompeo are among the contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, a race in which Trump remains the only confirmed candidate.
But Haley seems to have started running.
He told Fox News: “We’re still working things out and we’ll figure it out. I’ve never lost a race. I said that and I’m still saying it to this day. I’m not going to lose now.”
Haley turns 51 on Friday. In a speech that appeared to be aimed at Joe Biden, who is 80, and Donald Trump, who is 76, he said: “I don’t think you have to be 80 years old to be a leader in DC. I think we need in the younger generation to come, step up and start fixing things. Can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be a leader.
The former South Carolina governor drew support from the Kushner family. He told Fox News Kushner and his wife and friends, though he hoped they would support Ivanka’s father.
He said: “May the best woman win.”
Pence, senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and even former national security adviser John Bolton are among the possible candidates for the Republican nomination. But two men, Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, are leading the polls so far.
On Thursday, Ben Rhodes, former foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama, he wrote: “Pompeo and Haley prepared for a real battle to see who can destroy the 1% in the Republican primary.”
Pompeo’s description of Haley’s planned meeting with Trump was followed by reports that in 2019 he urged Trump to reject replacing Pence as vice president.
On Thursday, Maggie Haberman, New York Times columnist and author of the best-selling book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, he realized that Kushner and Ivanka Trump “insisted to Pence’s disbelieving colleagues and friends that they had no part in the Haley/VP rumors”.
