Nikki Haley Resignation Timing ‘Suspect,’ Says Steve Bannon
According to former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, the timing of Nikki Haley’s resignation is “horrific” and “suspect.”
“The timing was exquisite from a bad point of view,” Bannon told Bloomberg, “everything she said yesterday and everything she said about stepping down could have been done on the evening of November 6. The timing could not have been worse.”
After having served a stint as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for the Trump administration, Nikki Haley announced her decision to resign yesterday.
The 46-year-old former South Carolina governor gave no reason for her exit, nor did she give details on what she would do next, according to BBC News.
“It’s been eight years of intense time, and I’m a believer in term limits,” Haley said, “I don’t have anything set on where I’m going to go.”
President Donald Trump said that Haley had told him some time ago that she wanted to take time off.
For Steve Bannon however, the timing of Nikki Haley’s resignation is “horrific” and “suspect” for a number of reasons. For months, Bannon has been warning that this fall’s midterm elections are a referendum on President Donald Trump. The Democrats, Bannon claims, will bring up impeachment if they take over the House of Representatives.
Bannon slams "horrific" timing of Nikki Haley's UN resignation announcement https://t.co/8iauXg42B3
— Bloomberg (@business) October 10, 2018
Haley’s resignation, according to Bannon, takes the spotlight away from Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as from the Trump administration’s accomplishments — news centered on having achieved the lowest U.S. unemployment rate in five decades, in particular.
Therefore, Bannon implies, instead of galvanizing the Republican base ahead of midterms, the Trump administration is slipping up, shifting the focus away from victories like Kavanaugh’s confirmation, killing any momentum in the process.
As soon as Haley resigned, talks of her looking to run for president in 2020 began to ramp up. Haley denied wanting to run, vowing to campaign on Donald Trump’s behalf in two years.
Bannon claims to have taken Haley at her word that she won’t run for for office in 2020, but praised the former South Carolina governor’s ambition, giving her a backhanded compliment.
“I think she is incredibly politically ambitious. Ambitious as Lucifer but that is probably… I am probably taking Milton out of context,” Bannon said.
Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is, apparently, not the only person to find the timing of Haley’s resignation suspect.
“The timing is raising eyebrows,” wrote the Washington Post, arguing that Haley’s resignation — which the White House appeared to downplay as hasty — was one of the best kept secrets in a “very leaky” White House, shocking media and even members of the administration.
According to the Washington Post, the fact that the White House chose to make the announcement ahead of midterms, with Haley’s exit due at the end of the year, is odd to say the least.
