On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump declared that he will not invite his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley to join his cabinet.
This decision served to exclude two former cabinet members whose allegiance to him had been uncertain, in addition it appears likely that the pairs extreme neoconservative views contributed to their exclusion.
The former president stated in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he would not be inviting Haley or Pompeo to join the Trump administration.
“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. 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!” Trump wrote.
The announcement suggests the degree to which loyalty will be a factor in the operations of the second Trump administration. In 2024, Haley ran against Trump for the presidency and declined to collaborate with him, despite her offer.
Pompeo, who also served as Trump’s CIA director, entertained the possibility of his own presidential campaign in 2024; however, he declined to challenge Trump for the Republican nomination.
Additionally, they both endorsed Trump at a later stage in the cycle than other former Trump administration officials.
The two individuals also stated that Pompeo’s pursuit of the position of the nation’s defense chief was met with fierce opposition from close associates of the former president, such as his son, Donald Trump Jr., and former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson.
Pompeo, a former House member and West Point graduate, had been one of a small number of names that had been publicly discussed as a potential defense secretary in a second Trump administration for an extended period.
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