Trump says Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo will not join second Trump administration

President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Saturday via the Truth Social platform that former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be part of his upcoming administration. Trump expressed appreciation for their previous service but stated he would not invite them to join his team.

“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump wrote.

“I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Haley, who worked for Trump as the U.S. ambassador to the UN, responded on 𝕏: “I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations.”

She continued: “I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years.”

Pompeo, who previously served under Trump as the CIA director, released a tweet thanking Trump for the opportunity to work with him.

Mr. President - I was proud to work with you too. As you said, when we were together last week, you and I built the plan that made the world safer & led to no new wars.

America firmly rejected the Biden-Harris foreign policy agenda. We have a duty to put America First again. pic.twitter.com/9Ac0rRyF7F

— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) November 10, 2024

Notably, both Haley and Pompeo have expressed strong support for Israel.

Pompeo arrived in Israel in February 2024 on a solidarity mission.

The former secretary of state played a key role in helping Trump and Netanyahu broker four Arab-Israeli peace and normalization agreements that became known as the “Abraham Accords.”

Haley also visited Israel in May 2024 in a show of solidarity and has consistently advocated for the elimination of the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.

It comes as little surprise that Haley will not join the coming administration, considering her deep unpopularity amongst Trump supporters after she ran against Trump in the Republican primary.

While Pompeo stayed largely under the radar during Trump’s campaign, he endorsed the president-elect in October and even campaigned with him the day before the elections last week.

Trump’s announcement came after several prominent figures within American conservatism both publicly and privately opposed Pompeo’s potential inclusion in the second Trump administration.

POLITICO reported that Pompeo was “making a concerted effort to be named to the position of defense secretary” but “ran into heated opposition from close allies of the former president,” including Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson – both of whom have also vocally criticized Haley.

Carlson’s public criticism of Pompeo primarily focused on his approach to CIA secrecy.

In a conversation with Joe Rogan, Carlson said that Pompeo’s lawyer threatened him for reporting on classified CIA documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Carlson also said he believed that the lack of criticism of Pompeo among Republicans is because people are “worried about being punished,” and added that “members of Congress are terrified of the intel agencies.”

Notably, attention has been drawn to Carlson, particularly after he hosted podcaster Darryl Cooper in September and made headlines with controversial statements about the Holocaust.

“Tucker Carlson and his guest Darryl Cooper engaged in one of the most repugnant forms of Holocaust denial of recent years,” said Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Chairman Dani Dayan. “These far-fetched conspiracy theories are not only dangerous and malevolent, they are antisemitic.”

In April, Carlson launched a two-pronged assault on American Christian support for Israel when he hosted Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and anti-Israel activist.

In the interview with Rogan, Carlson dubbed Pompeo “a really sinister person and a criminal,” and referenced a Yahoo News investigation which claimed that, during Pompeo’s time as CIA director, there were conversations within the agency about assassinating Assange.

Trump has denied the claims that he wanted Assange assassinated and, on the contrary, stated he thinks Assange has “been treated very badly.”

Trump Jr. and Carlson are not the only Trump allies who may have influenced Trump’s decision to not include Haley and Pompeo in his next administration.

On Friday, one day before Trump’s Truth Social post, Republican strategist Roger Stone wrote an article directed against both Haley and Pompeo.

“Pompeo is a neocon who champions endless war, led the charge to assassinate Julian Assange, and backed Jack Smith's persecution of President Trump,” Stone wrote.

Stone argued that “Pompeo and Haley will be far from the only two infiltrators who attempt to worm their way back into Trump’s good graces and subvert his America First agenda in the administration for their own ends, but they stand as the three [sic] most egregious examples of the type of person who should be excluded in the administration.”