President-elect Donald Trumps wants S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley as his U.N. Ambassador
Before leaving for a Thanksgiving holiday President-elect Donald Trump named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as his choice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. It is big news because she is the first woman tapped for a top-level administration post during his White House transition so far.
Two sources familiar with the decision, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it by name ahead of the announcement, also said that the ambassadorship will be a Cabinet-level position.
Haley, an outspoken Trump critic throughout much of the presidential race, would become his first female – and first nonwhite – Cabinet-level official if confirmed by the Senate. She’s the second Asian-American to serve as a U.S. governor.
Not all presidents have treated the ambassadorship to the U.N. as a Cabinet-level position, and Republicans have tended not to grant that status. That said being U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is a big deal and Haley, a rising star in the Republican Party should be fly through the confirmation process.
Haley’s new job clears the way for Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster to step into the role of South Carolina governor. McMaster was an early Trump endorser, backing him before the state’s GOP primary in February.
At the time, Haley campaigned for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, before going on to support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Despite misgivings about Trump, she met with the president-elect last week at Trump Tower. Afterward, Haley said they’d had a “very nice” conversation.
Trump is spending Thanksgiving with his family at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally and his selection of tough-on-crime Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general could mean big money for the private prison industry.
Some analysts believe the prison population could climb under the Trump administration, and the stock market seems to agree.
A day after the election, CoreCivic Co., formerly Corrections Corporation of America, saw the biggest percentage gain on the New York Stock Exchange with shares climbing 43 percent.
Geo Group, another private prison company, saw its shares jump 21 percent.
The federal prison population had been trending down for nearly a decade when the Obama administration announced in August that it would phase out its use of some private facilities.
Some quotes in this story came from ASSOCIATED PRESS.
