President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday said that former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be part of his upcoming administration.
“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 on his Truth Social account on X.
“I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country,” he added.
The President-elect who is presently evaluating potential candidates for his administration ahead of the January 20 inauguration announced that neither Nikki Haley, who criticised him during her GOP primary campaign, nor Mike Pompeo, who faced backlash from Trump supporters over perceived lack of loyalty, would be invited to serve in his White House team come January 2025.
Haley withdrew from the GOP primary contest in March after Republican voters demonstrated overwhelming support for the former 45th president’s third consecutive White House bid.
Prior to her withdrawal, she had strongly criticised Trump whilst campaigning and positioned herself as the sole GOP candidate capable of defeating President Biden, the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent, before he ended his re-election campaign.
Two days prior to the election, Haley softened her previous criticism, stating that the prospective commander in chief would be “clearly the better choice” compared to Harris, New York Post reported.
In her opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal, Nikki Haley wrote, “I don’t agree with Mr Trump 100% of the time. But I do agree with him most of the time and I disagree with Ms Harris nearly all the time. That makes this an easy call.”
While Mike Pompeo, who led the CIA during Trump’s presidency, was reportedly considered for the defence secretary position. Despite initial speculation about his presidential ambitions, he opted out of seeking the Republican nomination in April 2023.
Pompeo faced criticism for his prolonged silence during the presidential campaign until the final days before the election. His fellow Republicans also expressed disapproval over his backing of special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into Trump regarding the alleged classified documents case.
Earlier on Friday, Republican strategist Roger Stone advised the President-elect against trusting Pompeo, who was speculated to be seeking a cabinet position after previously considering a presidential bid.
“Now that Trump is back on top, it becomes far more difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff,” Stone wrote on his website.
Trump has announced that real estate investor and campaign contributor Steve Witkoff, along with former Senator Kelly Loeffler, will co-chair the 2025 presidential inauguration.
