Mike Pence will be replaced as Nikki Haley 'wants to be Vice President', ex-Republican strategist says
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley "wants to be vice president on the Republican ticket in 2020," according to former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt. The strategist, during an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday, said that he also believes that Vice President Mike Pence is waiting to be cut loose by President Donald Trump.
Schmidt added that Haley's claims that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly were attempting a coup against Trump "are not particularly credible." However, the strategist, who worked on campaigns for George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and John McCain, added that Haley's claims are indicative of her high political aspirations.
"She wants to be vice president," Schmidt said during the interview, noting that Haley is attempting to place herself in Trump's good graces. "[Trump] has an enormous problem with women, suburban women particularly. He's entirely transactional; loyalty is a one-way street." Schmidt, while speaking to host Willie Geist, argued that Pence is aware of his uncertain standing in the Trump administration.
"I think Mike Pence is probably hanging out back there thinking, 'Hey, I've got a 1 in 365 chance at picking the day that Trump's going to dump me from the ticket and put her on,'" the strategist said explaining that Haley "would serve [Trump's] immediate political interests in a way that Pence can't."
Haley, while promoting her new memoir 'With All Due Respect', had spoken about her experiences working with Tillerson and Kelly. The former UN ambassador to the US claimed that she continually noted the pair's attempt to "undermine" Trump from inside his cabinet.
"Tillerson went on to tell me the reason he resisted the president's decisions was because, if he didn't, people would die," Haley said during an interview with CBS Evening News interview on Sunday. "Instead of saying that to me, they should've been saying that to the president."
Haley also spoke on the ongoing impeachment inquiry against Trump in the House of Representatives, and reinforced her loyalty to the president calling it the "worst punishment."
"Impeachment is literally the worst punishment you can do to a public official, and here you've got a situation where there was no investigation and the aid flowed as it was supposed to," she added.