Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted new Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, saying she quit too soon during the Trump administration.
Pompeo shared the remarks during an interview with The Hill.
Pompeo blasts Haley, says she quit with work to be done https://t.co/Nanxy12EUA
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 15, 2023
“It was very difficult to work inside this administration," he said. "The facts suggest that [Haley] left some two years into the administration. ... There was still an enormous amount of work to do."
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
"Pompeo also fired shots at Haley in his recent book, claiming she had 'plotted' with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to become former President Donald Trump's vice president," the Washington Examiner reported.
"Haley denounced the rumors as 'gossip,'" the report noted.
Get excited! Time for a new generation.
Let’s do this! 👊 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023
Haley announced her run for the White House on Monday, becoming the second GOP candidate to do so following former President Donald Trump.
Pompeo is among other Republicans speculated to join the presidential primary. Other rumored candidates include Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has been the only other candidate to compete well with Trump in early voting polls.
So far, Trump has been the only candidate to both announce a run and begin actively campaigning. He traveled to the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina recently.
South Carolina, where Haley served as the state's first female governor before serving as ambassador to the U.N. under Trump, boasted a team behind the former president's campaign that included Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster.
The move will make winning her home state a major challenge as Haley seeks to build momentum for a national campaign. If successful, she would become the first female Republican nominee to win a presidential primary (Hillary Clinton became the first female Democrat to do so in 2016) and would become the first female American president if she won in the general election.
