UN Ambassador Nikki Haley resigns

The announcement surprised both Bolton and Pompeo, according to a source close to CNN.

Officials at the White House, who had little indication that Haley was resigning on Tuesday, are questioning her.

While Trump told her that she had asked him six months ago, she wanted to stay away. The senior administration officials are wondering why Haley chose this moment (four weeks before the end of her term and just after a deadly political battle involving sex) to leave her.

One official said that there was little coordination during the announcement and sources told CNN that almost all senior government officials were found caught off guard by this advert.

Possible replacements?

Still, Trump congratulated Haley at the Oval Office event, saying she "was very special to me" and that she called him "someone who gets it."

The president also told Haley that she could "pick" administrative positions if she ever decided to join her position.

"We're all happy for you in a way, but we hate to lose, I hope you come back at some point, but in another way, you can make your choice," Trump said as Haley smiled widely. .

However, following her resignation, two sources close to Haley's relationship with Trump told CNN that she had lost her influence with the president in recent months.

When Rex Tillerson was still Secretary of State, Trump often asked Haley for advice and she was regularly seen at the Oval Office. But with Pompeo in this role and with Bolton as a national security advisor, Haley has seen his time with the president diminish, sources said.

The president announced his intention to appoint a successor to the highest US diplomatic post at the United Nations within two to three weeks.

Trump has a list of candidates for the succession to succeed Haley, but has not communicated much, even to the highest officials of the White House, told CNN a senior White House official .

He intends to get through it and seek advice from advisers as he strives to make a decision in the coming weeks, said the manager.

Among the names proposed to replace Haley are: former Trump National Security Advisor, Dina Powell, US Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, and senior advisor and daughter of President Ivanka Trump.

Powell was with Haley in South Carolina this weekend, according to a photo posted in his Twitter feed. A source who spoke to the president last week about his replacement for Haley told CNN that Trump had mentioned that he liked Dina very much.

Grenell was confirmed as ambassador to Germany in April, but he was also spokesman for the United States and head of the United Nations from 2001 to 2008.

A source familiar with the discussions told CNN that Ivanka Trump had laughed Tuesday morning when she had heard of speculation that she would replace Haley.

& # 39; Honor of a life & # 39;

Haley called the ambassador to the UN "honor of a lifetime," but added that it was time for her to leave the administration.

"There is no personal reason," she says, explaining her reason for leaving. "It is very important that government officials understand when the time has come to retire."

"I want to make sure that this administration, this president, has the strongest person to fight," she said.

But a source close to the case told CNN that Haley had financial considerations in mind, which she had alluded to in her letter of resignation dated October 3, which CNN obtained a copy of.

With one child at the university and another at destination, Haley felt she needed to make money, the source said.

Sitting alongside Trump in the oval office on Tuesday, Haley went on to praise the current government's foreign policy, saying "the United States is respected."

"Countries may not like what we do, but they respect what we do," she said.

She also congratulated members of the Trump team, including senior advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

"Jared is such a hidden genius that nobody understands," she says. "We are a better country because they are in the administration."

In response to this news, Ivanka Trump tweeted kind words about Haley, saying, "Ambassador Haley has served the United States with dignity and distinction, she is a bold reformer and an unwavering champion of the truth, principles-based realism and integrity in the United Nations. "

Haley's not running for 2020 & # 39;

Haley tried to prevent speculation from thinking that she could challenge President Trump in two years.

"No, I'm not running for 2020," said Haley. She raised the subject without asking it, saying that she knew the problem would probably arise.

"I can promise you that I will campaign for this one," says Haley.

She said she was retiring after almost a decade on the national scene, including her tenure as governor of South Carolina.

"It's been 8 years of intense time," she said. "I believe in term limits.

Axios was the first to announce the resignation of Haley.

A senior state department official said Haley had told her staff this morning.

The announcement comes one day after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has asked the State Department's Inspector General to investigate Haley for potential violation of the law. Ethics by accepting free flights from a businessman from South Carolina.

The monitoring group, quoting Haley's financial information for 2017, said Haley and her husband had accepted seven flights on luxury private planes from three South Carolina businessmen, but that they were qualified for an exception based on a personal relationship with the donor.

CREW states that the financial information provided does not provide sufficient information to determine whether the flights were eligible for such an exception.

"In this case, Ambassador Haley's relations with these people appear to have important political and professional components," reads CREW's request.

There is no indication that CREW's request played a role in Haley's resignation.

How did she come here

The former governor of South Carolina was appointed ambassador to the UN following Trump's election victory, while he was supporting Florida senator Marco Rubio at the primary 2016 presidential election, followed by Senator Texas, Ted Cruz.

When asked if Reince Priebus, then chief of staff, accepted the position, Haley was intrigued, but she had certain conditions.

First, she told Trump that she wanted to be a member of the Cabinet and the National Security Council, privileges enjoyed by her predecessors in the Obama administration. Perhaps more importantly, she wanted to have the latitude to be herself, to say what she wanted.

"I said," I'm a political girl, I want to be part of the decision-making process, "" she told CNN during an interview in 2017, evoking the conversation with Trump. "He said" And I said, "I do not want to be a wallflower or a talking head. I want to be able to say what I think. "He said:" That's why I asked you to do that. "In all honesty, I did not think they were going to accept all that I asked, and they gave me all that, so how do you refuse that? "

For more than a year and a half as a worker, she has repeatedly expressed herself, whether for human rights as for most of her colleagues in the US. administration or to denounce racism at home.

In his letter of resignation, Haley thanked Trump for meeting these conditions.