Washington (CNN)Public humiliation is a rite of passage for many top officials in the Trump administration. But when it was Nikki Haley‘s turn this week, she fought back, defending herself in a way that reflects her unique status in the Trump administration.
The US ambassador to the United Nations spent much of Tuesday feeling both embarrassed that she had caused controversy by getting ahead of the White House in announcing Russia sanctions and irked by seemingly dismissive and condescending remarks from a fellow administration official, according to two sources close to Haley.
Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s newly installed chief economic adviser, said “there might have been some momentary confusion” on her part. Haley found the remark disrespectful and felt she couldn’t keep quiet, the sources said.
It was a stunning retort in an administration where the typical response to being put down is to slink away quietly and regroup. That was the playbook for former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was ridiculed on Twitter by President Donald Trump for getting too far ahead on diplomacy with North Korea. Similarly, then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who is now White House chief of staff, ran afoul of Trump when he insisted the administration’s travel ban was really a “travel pause,” only to watch the President call it a ban.
Haley didn’t endure a presidential putdown, but Kudlow’s comments — for which he later apologized — were in line with an apparent White House strategy to shift blame to Haley and shield the President. Still, none of her colleagues have so publicly bristled at the egg on their faces.
For now at least, she is showing off her savvy in navigating the administration’s ever shifting dynamics. She appears to have emerged from the combative approach unscathed — a rare feat in Trump’s orbit.
“It’s clear that in situations like this she is prepared to defend herself — and publicly, if necessary,” said John Negroponte, a former US ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush.
Another source close to Haley said the ambassador “isn’t going to let the President run over her like some of these star-struck men around…
