US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley Resigns

WASHINGTON — US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has resigned and will be leaving her post at the end of the year, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Trump told reporters that he accepted Haley’s resignation and said Haley told him six months ago that she wanted to “take some time off.”

Joined by Haley in the Oval Office, Trump praised her for doing “an incredible job” and said he hoped she would return to the administration in a different role.

“She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together. We’re all happy for you in one way, but we hate to lose you,” Trump said.

“It has been an honor of a lifetime,” Haley said. “Now the United States is respected. Countries might not like what we do, but they respect what we do.”

Haley, who has been on the job since the start of the Trump administration, called it “the honor of a lifetime. She said her work has helped to renew respect for the U.S. around the world.

“Now the United States is respected,” Haley said. “Countries might not like what we do, but they respect what we do.”

Haley is considered a rising star in the Republican Party and a possible candidate for the 2020 presidential elections.

But Haley said Tuesday she would not be running in 2020 and would campaign for President Trump.

Indiana University global and international studies professor David Bosco says, while the United Nations ambassador in theory is carrying out the State Department’s wishes, the post is often an independent power center in practice — especially under Haley, who had her own political profile as a former governor of South Carolina.

Bosco says if a career diplomat replaces Haley, he might focus on the UN’s behind-the-scenes work like overseeing peacekeeping missions, while the State Department takes the lead on foreign policy.

Bosco says Haley was well respected at the UN, as a haven of stability in what he calls an often erratic administration on foreign policy. He compares her to Reagan UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick or current National Security Adviser John Bolton as an ambassador who’s been forceful in asserting American positions. But he notes there’s been friction at times between Haley and the White House, with Trump favoring a more confrontational attitude toward the UN than Haley appeared comfortable with.

(Photo by Kevin Hagen/Getty.)