Haley on Trump’s criticism of not working in his administration: ‘No interest’ in a Cabinet job

Former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley responded Wednesday to President-elect Trump’s public criticism that he did not pick her to work in his administration.

‘I had no interest in being in his cabinet. He knew that. But to take it a step further, his best friend, Steve Witkoff, came to our house in South Carolina, talked to me and my husband, and basically wanted a truce between me and Donald Trump. And I told him at the time that there was no need for a truce, that I had my support, that there was no problem on my side,” Haley said on her Sirius XM show.

“And at that moment he said, ‘What do you want? Tell me what you want. Is there anything you want?’ And I said, ‘There’s nothing I want.’ And there was nothing I wanted,” she added.

Haley said she had a conversation with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s transition director, about possible Cabinet choices but did not discuss a position for her.

Trump posted on social media that Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be in his second administration.

“I know the game he played. I don’t need to play that game,” Haley said. “Do I take it personally? No. That’s who he is. He can be superficial sometimes and I think he’s shown that. But I don’t have to be superficial. And in the end, I feel very comfortable.” with where I am, and I’m comfortable with what happened.”

Haley said she would advise Republicans to “understand that this isn’t about a ‘gotcha’ or about celebrating too much,” but that it’s time to get to work.

“We must pray that whoever he appoints does a good job. We must hope, for the sake of our children and the generations that will follow us, that this all continues,” Haley said.

“We have a border that needs to be closed. We have an out of control debt burden. We have a lot of rules that hold companies back,” she also said.