America
Trump picked Governor Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador
President-elect Donald
Trump has picked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be the US ambassador to the
United Nations, according to a source familiar with the decision, CNN reported
An official Trump transition announcement is
expected later Wednesday. The Charleston Post and Courier newspaper was the
first to report this story overnight.
Haley, who is the the daughter of Indian
immigrants, has already carved out a legacy for herself, serving as her home
state's first female and first minority governor.
While on the stump, Haley vocally disavowed
Trump, appearing publicly on behalf of Marco Rubio and endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz after the Florida senator dropped out of the
race.
Relations between Haley and President-elect
Trump have been far from cordial, with both vaulting verbal jabs at each other
during the race to the White House. Trump said in January that Haley's stance
on immigration was "weak" after the South Carolina governor
welcomed properly vetted legal immigrants into her state, regardless of race or
religion.
In a video response to President Barack
Obama's annual State of the Union address, Haley never used Trump's name, but
implied that the then-presumptive GOP nominee would threaten "the dream that is America" for others.
Ahead of the South Carolina primary, where
Trump ultimately beat out fellow GOP presidential hopefuls, Haley called the billionaire-turned-politician "everything a
governor doesn't want in a president."
In October, however, Haley switched her
position, saying she would vote for Trump even though she was "not a fan."