Any honeymoon period between Nikki Haley and President-elect Donald Trump appears to have ended as the former South Carolina governor, Republican presidential contender, and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations tore into two of Trump’s Cabinet picks Wednesday.
On her SiriusXM show “Nikki Haley Live,” Haley criticized the selections of former Democrat Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, The Hill reported.
She slammed Gabbard’s stance on Russia’s war with Ukraine and she condemned her support for pardoning Edward Snowden for leaking classified documents. Snowden is living in exile in Russia.
“After Russia invaded Ukraine, Tulsi Gabbard literally blamed NATO, our Western alliance that’s responsible for countering Russia,” Haley said, according to The Hill. “She blamed NATO for the attack on Ukraine, and the Russians and the Chinese echoed her talking points and her interviews on Russian and Chinese television.”
She said giving Kennedy control of 25% of the U.S. budget is too much for a “liberal Democrat, environmental attorney, trial lawyer” with no background in healthcare.
“So, some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know, when he is given reins to an agency, what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes,” Haley said.
She suggested Kennedy serve as a health adviser and urged the Senate to “ask the hard questions to him before we go and approve him.”
Haley said Gabbard hasn’t changed her stances on foreign affairs and that being director of national intelligence “is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer” because the position involves analyzing “real threats.”
“So now she’s defended Russia, she’s defended Syria, she’s defended Iran, and she’s defended China,” Haley said. “No, she has not denounced any of these views. None of them. She hasn’t taken one of them back.”
In an email to Newsmax, Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote: "If Nikki Haley has criticisms she should run for president and … oh, wait. She did exactly that and lost in a landslide."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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