President Donald Trump indicated on June 26 that former U.N. Ambassador, Nikki Haley, will not be joining him for the 2020 re-election ticket, saying Vice President Mike Pence is a “hundred percent.”
President Trump spoke with Maria Bartiromo on FOX Business Network on Wednesday morning.
Bartiromo asked the President about the opinion article “Trump-Haley in 2020” published in the Wall Street Journal on June 23.
Trump rules out Nikki Haley joining 2020 ticket https://t.co/nAxHlznUK7 pic.twitter.com/uAdpnEqWlU
— The Hill (@thehill) June 26, 2019
“There was an op-ed in the “Journal” the other day, Mr. President, and it said basically advising you to take Nikki Haley as your running mate going into 2020. Are you locked in on Vice President Pence for 2020 or would you consider having Nikki Haley as your running mate?” the morning show host asked.
Trump said: “I love Nikki. She’s endorsed me. She’s my friend. She’s part of my campaign, but Mike has been a great vice president.”
The president said he appreciated the way Haley represented the United States at the United Nations.
“Nikki’s future’s great, but Mike Pence is the person 100 percent. Yes, we won, we won together. We have tremendous evangelical support,” he said.
Trump also said that he has a great relationship with Pence and he values him as a part of his team. “We have tremendous support from every angle. You can’t break up a team like that. And we get along well together,” he said.
The op-ed in the Wall Street Journal said Trump faces re-election challenges from “politically moderate suburban women, many of whom see him as divisive.”
It said that Haley was able to gain respect from diplomats around the globe for her work at the United Nations, and she was also appreciated by Americans at home.
Putting Nikki Haley on the 2020 ticket as Trump’s VP would tamp down some of the animosity moderate women feel for him, writes Andrew Stein https://t.co/Ck8gDoL8sq via @WSJ
— Afshine Emrani MD FACC (@afshineemrani) June 25, 2019
“It’s too late for Mr. Trump to revamp his political personality. But with the 2016 election in the past, Nikki Haley on the ticket could tamp down the antipathy for Mr. Trump that seems to afflict so many moderate and Republican-leaning women. President Trump needs the prospect of a Vice President Haley to help recapture the White House,” the op-ed by Andrew Stein, a Democrat, said.
While talking with Bartiromo, Trump said, “This [op-ed] was written actually by a friend of mine.”
