Former Secretary of State and potential 2024 Republican candidate for president Mike Pompeo slammed Nikki Haley, who just announced her bid for the White House, in an interview with The Hill.
Pompeo bashed Haley for leaving the administration while others – such as himself – stuck around to see the term through.
The explosive interview comes soon after the release of Pompeo’s book, in which he accused Haley of “plotting” with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to replace Mike Pence as former President Donald Trump’s vice president. Haley dismissed the explosive rumors in Pompeo’s book as “gossip.”
Now, Pompeo has doubled down in the interview with The Hill, recalling how “difficult” it was to work in the Trump administration, and chiding Haley for not fulfilling her duties to the end.
“It was very difficult to work inside this administration,” he said.
“Some of us stuck it out. … Some came in, punched their ticket, and went on. And for those who made that decision, I just don’t have any time,” Pompeo continued.
“The facts suggest that [Haley] left some two years into the administration. … There was still an enormous amount of work to do,” Pompeo said.
“I don’t understand how someone who believes that they have this incredible opportunity, in an important role, says, ‘No thanks. I don’t want to do that anymore,’” he concluded.
Mike Pompeo tells The Hill's Niall Stanage why he thinks Nikki Haley quit the Trump administration prematurely — and where he stands on launching his own 2024 campaign. pic.twitter.com/HDDzeXAd75
— The Hill (@thehill) February 14, 2023
The former CIA Director is widely expected to announce his run for president in the coming weeks or months.
So far, the Republican field for 2024 consists of only Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.
Haley, the former GOP governor of South Carolina, has clamored for a new generation of leadership in the party in the early days of her campaign, while Trump said he “told her to follow her heart” in making the decision to run against him.
“Even though Nikki Haley said, ‘I would never run against my President, he was a great President, the best President in my lifetime,’” Trump told Voice of America, “I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do. I wish her luck!”
