Nikki Haley schemed with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to replace Pence as VP: Pompeo book

19 January 2023

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley (former U.S. ambassador to the United States and ex-governor of South Carolina) are both being mentioned as possible GOP presidential candidates for 2024. So far, neither of them has announced a campaign, but Pompeo has a lot to say about the 50-year-old Haley in his new book “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.” And according to Pompeo, Haley schemed with former White House Senior Advisers Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to replace Mike Pence as vice president in the Trump Administration.

The Guardian has obtained a copy of Pompeo’s book, which is due out on Tuesday, January 24. Reporting on Pompeo’s claims about Haley in an article published on January 19, The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly explains, “Describing his own anger when Haley secured a personal Oval Office meeting with (President Donald) Trump without checking with him, Pompeo writes that Haley, in fact, ‘played’ Trump’s then-chief of staff, John Kelly, and instead of meeting the president alone, was accompanied by Trump’s daughter and her husband, both senior advisers…. The story about Haley is firmly in the vein of Washington reportage and tell-alls that Pompeo claims to disdain. It also adds weight to stories which said Trump did indeed consider dumping his vice-president, Mike Pence, for Haley — a rumor Trump was compelled to deny in 2019.”

Pengelly adds, “It will also add to intrigue around reports that Kushner’s family is fundraising for Haley ahead of her 2024 run.”

The 59-year-old Pompeo, in his book, writes, “As best Kelly could tell, they were presenting a possible ‘Haley for vice-president’ option. I can’t confirm this, but (Kelly) was certain he had been played, and he was not happy about it. Clearly, this visit did not reflect a team effort but undermined our work for America.”

Pengelly reports that Pompeo’s “gossipy” claim about Haley is not the only “startling scene” in his book, which, according to the Guardian journalist, “also says Trump had the ‘nutty idea’ that Pompeo could be secretary of state and secretary of defense at the same time.”

According to Pengelly, Pompeo is “studiedly respectful” of Pence in his book and is, for the most part, “respectful” of former President Trump and “avoids overt criticism” of him. But Pengelly reports that Pompeo is openly contemptuous of neocon war hawk John Bolton, who served as national security adviser in the Trump Administration before Trump fired him. Pompeo writes that Bolton deserves to “be in jail, for spilling classified information.”

Nor is Pompeo shy about attacking Haley in his book and trying to undermine someone who may be one of his 2024 presidential primary rivals if both of them decide to run. Pompeo criticizes Haley for resigning as U.S. ambassador to the UN, writing that she “flat-out threw in the towel.”

Pompeo, in his book, says of Haley, “She has described her role as going toe-to-toe with tyrants. If so, then why would she quit such an important job at such an important time?”

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