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Trump to Pick Nikki Haley as U.N. Ambassador

South Carolina governor, president-elect have complicated history

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley earned praise for navigating through the Confederate battle flag controversy. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley earned praise for navigating through the Confederate battle flag controversy. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)

President-elect Donald Trump is expected Wednesday to nominate South Carolina Gov. Nikki R. Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations, according to multiple media outlets.

A source familiar with the decision confirmed Haley’s selection to Roll Call. The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston first reported the news early Wednesday.

Haley met with Trump last week and was floated as a potential pick for secretary of State. 

Haley and Trump have a complicated political history. According to The State newspaper in South Carolina, Trump gave $5,000 to a political group supportive of Haley in 2012.

But Haley took a not-so-subtle swipe at Trump in the Republican response to the State of the Union address earlier this year, saying people should resist the temptation to “follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”

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This led Trump to say on Fox News that Haley was “very week on illegal immigration,” and that she had asked for “a hell of a lot of money” in campaign contributions.

Haley received praise for her push to remove the Confederate Battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol in the wake of the shooting of nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston.

Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants and is currently the youngest governor in the United States. She was the first woman and first minority to be elected governor in South Carolina.

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