WASHINGTON — 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.
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.”
