Nikki Haley, highest ranking Indian American in Trump administration, resigns

The US Ambassador to the United Nations will leave the position by the end of the year.

Follow @ambazaarmag

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, the highest ranking Indian American in the Trump administration, has resigned. She will leave the job by the end of the year.

The resignation was announced by President Trump at the Oval Office shortly after 11 am EDT, in a joint appearance with the departing envoy.

“She has done an incredible job, she is a fantastic person,” Trump said, adding that Haley had told him some six months ago that she wanted “to take some time off.”

READ: Nikki Haley confirmed as US Ambassador to the United Nations (January 24, 2017)

“She has done a fantastic job, we have done a fantastic job together,” the president said.

“We are happy for you, but we hate to lose you,” Trump, indicating that he would love to have her back in the administration in “some capacity.”

Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, thanked the president. “It has been an honor of a lifetime” to serve the country, she said.

“Now the United States is respected,” the envoy said. “Now they [world] get the president means business.”

The 46-year-old pointed out the cutting of the UN budget by $1.3 billion as one of her accomplishments, saying that it has made the world body “more efficient.”

Haley, who is widely expected to run for president some day, quickly doused a primary challenge to the president, saying that she will not run for the highest office of the land in 2020. “I will support this [president],” she said. “I look forward to supporting the [reelection campaign of the] president.”

READ: Nikki Haley moves closer to the world stage with smooth Senate confirmation hearing (January 20, 2017)

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, is the first US ambassador to UN to serve in a Republican administration in a cabinet-level position for a GOP administration in three decades.

The resignation of Haley came as a surprise. As the top US ambassador to the UN, she has pursued a radical Trump agenda on many issues, including North Korea, Iran and Israel-Palestinian issue.

Haley thanked her family, as well as the president’s family, including First Lady Melania Trump and first daughter Ivanka Trump. But the most profuse praise was reserved for Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. “Jared is a hidden genius,” Haley said.

Regarding the president’s daughter, she said, “Ivanka has been a great friend.”