President-elect Donald Trump revealed Saturday night that he will not ask former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join his administration.
Trump said on his Truth Social that Haley, who ripped him when she ran against him for the GOP nomination, and Pompeo, who some supporters criticized for not backing Trump strongly enough, will not be invited to join him when he re-enters the White House in January 2025.
“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump posted.
“I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Since winning Tuesday’s election in a landslide victory against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump and his team have been working behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago to staff the 47th president’s administration, with loyalty the primary job requirement.
Haley, 52, ran against Trump during the GOP primary but dropped out in March when Republican voters overwhelmingly showed they still supported the 45th president to run for the White House a third straight time.
The former US Ambassador to the United Nations slammed Trump on the campaign trail and argued she was the only GOP candidate who could top President Biden before the 81-year-old Democrat dropped his reelection bid and publicly declared that Harris would become the next president if Trump remained the Republican nominee.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published just two days before Election Day, Haley attempted to walk back her criticism arguing the future commander in chief is “clearly the better choice” over Harris.
Haley, who has been both publicly supportive and critical of her former rival, publicly announced back in August that she had no interest in serving in Trump’s administration — stating the “campaign was never about a position.”
Pompeo, who served as both secretary of state and CIA director in Trump’s first administration, has been widely criticized for remaining silent throughout the presidential race until just days before Election Day.
Republicans have also blasted him for supporting special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump over the possession of alleged classified documents.
Republican strategist Roger Stone took to his website Friday night to publicly warn the President-elect that Pompeo — who was rumored to be eyeing a seat in his cabinet after flirting with a presidential run himself — was not to be trusted.
“Now that Trump is back on top, it becomes far more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff,” Stone wrote on his website.
“If Pompeo is placed into the next Trump administration, his history shows he would promote the hegemony of the deep state rather than an authentic America First agenda.”
Trump recently tapped his 2024 campaign co-chair, Susie Wiles, as his next White House chief of staff.
