Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley this weekend told CBS that she was offended when two top aides to Donald Trump attempted to recruit her to "save the world" by undermining the president.
In her upcoming memoir, With All Due Respect, set to be released on Tuesday, Haley detailed a disagreement she had with then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly during a meeting regarding her recommendation to withhold funding for a U.N. agency that backed Palestinians. The two top Trump aides disagreed and argued that doing so could result in greater threats to Israel.
"Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren't being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country," Haley wrote in the book, according to The Washington Post.
Haley expanded on her clash with Tillerson and Kelly in an interview that aired on Sunday with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell by revealing a closed-door meeting, during which the two top Trump aides tried to get her to undermine the president.
"Tillerson went on to tell me the reason he resisted the president's decisions was because, if he didn't, people would die," she said.
"You memorialized that conversation? It definitely happened?" O'Donnell asked.
"It absolutely happened," Haley continued. "And instead of saying that to me, they should've been saying that to the president, not asking me to join them on their sidebar plan. It should've been, 'Go tell the president what your differences are, and quit if you don't like what he's doing.' But to undermine a president is really a very dangerous thing. And it goes against the Constitution, and it goes against what the American people want. And it was offensive."
In response to Haley's remarks, Kelly told Sunday Morning: "If by resistance and stalling she means putting a staff process in place ... to ensure the [president] knew all the pros and cons of what policy decision he might be contemplating so he could make an informed decision, then guilty as charged."
Haley resigned from her post last year. Unlike many other former Trump staffers that have either been ousted or left due to disagreements with the president, Haley has since remained a staunch supporter of the president. Trump has similarly praised her on numerous occasions. The two sat side-by-side in the Oval Office to announce her resignation last October, during which Trump praised her as a "fantastic person" who has performed an "incredible job."
"We've solved a lot of problems and we're in the process of solving a lot of problems," the president said, adding that if she chooses to return to his administration, Haley can have her "pick" of jobs.
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