President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday, former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo He will not be part of the next administration.
“I would not invite former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the conference. Trump administrationWhich is currently in formation,” Trump posted on his Truth social account on X.
“I have greatly enjoyed and appreciated working with them before, and would like to thank them for their service to our country,” he added.
The president-elect, who has been evaluating potential candidates for his administration ahead of the January 20 inauguration, announced that neither Nikki Haley, who criticized him during his GOP primary campaign, nor Mike Pompeo, who faced a backlash from Trump supporters over a lack of loyalty. He will be invited to serve on the White House team in January 2025.
Haley backed away GOP primary contests in March after Republican voters showed overwhelming support for the former 45-year-old president’s third consecutive White House bid.
Prior to her withdrawal, she had strongly criticized Trump on the campaign trail and positioned herself as the only GOP candidate capable of defeating the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent President Biden before ending his re-election campaign.
Two days before the election, Haley softened her earlier criticism, saying the potential commander in chief would be “obviously a better choice” than Harris, the New York Post reported.
In her opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Nikki Haley wrote, “I don’t agree with Mr. Trump 100 percent of the time. But I agree with him most of the time and I disagree with Ms. Harris almost all of the time. That makes it an easy call.”
While Mike Pompeo, who headed the CIA under Trump, was reportedly considered for the post of defense secretary. Despite early speculation about his presidential ambitions, he dropped out of seeking the Republican nomination in April 2023.
Pompeo faced criticism for his long silence during the presidential campaign until the final days before the election. His fellow Republicans also expressed dismay at his support for special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump regarding alleged classified documents.
Earlier on Friday, Republican strategist Roger Stone advised the president-elect not to trust Pompeo, who was previously expected to seek a Cabinet post after considering a presidential bid.
“Now that Trump is back on top, it’s become much harder to separate the wheat from the chaff,” Stone wrote on his website.
Trump has announced that real estate investor and campaign contributor Steve Wittkoff, along with former Senator Kelly Loeffler, will co-chair the 2025 presidential inauguration.
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