U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is resigning, and will leave her post by the end of the year. President Donald Trump has plans to name her successor in the coming weeks.
“I have given everything I’ve got these last eight years,” she said, referring to her six years as South Carolina governor as well as her time at the U.N. “And I do think it’s good to rotate in other people who can put that same energy and power into it.”
There has been speculation that Haley, one of the highest-profile women in the administration, will return to government or politics at some point.
“No, I’m not running in 2020” for president, she joked, quickly adding that she would be supporting Trump.
The decision to announce the latest shake-up came less than a month before the elections, even as the White House has made a concerted effort to hold off on major changes.
Trump was asked why the announcement was made now since Haley is staying until the end of the year, and he recounted how she has had to work on tough issues, such as Iran and North Korea.
Trump said Haley first discussed leaving the administration with him six months ago. The official noted that their conversation coincided with the appointment of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and John Bolton as national security adviser.
Before she was named by Trump to her U.N. post, Haley was elected the first female governor of South Carolina. She was re-elected in 2014. As governor, she developed a national reputation as a racial conciliator who led the charge to bring down the Confederate flag at the Statehouse and helped guide the state through one of its darkest moments, the massacre at a black church.
A rookie to international politics, the former South Carolina governor was an unusual pick for to be U.N. envoy. At the U.N., she helped spearhead the administration’s efforts to combat what it alleged to be anti-American and anti-Israel actions by the international body, and address U.S. tension with its European allies and with Iran and North Korea.
Last month, Haley, wrote an op-ed article in The Washington Post discussing her policy disagreements but also her pride in working for Trump. It came in response to an anonymous essay in The New York Times by a senior administration official that alleged there to be a secret “resistance” effort from the right in Trump’s administration and that there were internal discussions of invoking the 25th amendment to remove him from office.
“I proudly serve in this administration, and I enthusiastically support most of its decisions and the direction it is taking the country,” Haley wrote.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally tweeted that Haley “has a very bright future and will be a key player in both the future of the Republican Party and our nation as a whole for years to come.”
Haley, saying that her job was to defend America on the world stage, said, “It was a blessing to go into the U.N. every day with body armor.”
Trump said he was considering many candidates for Haley’s job and that a successor would be named in two to three weeks — or maybe sooner.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.