Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in an interview airing Wednesday she has often found President Donald Trump's "unpredictable" nature useful while dealing with ambassadors from around the world.
"I was trying to get the job done, and I got the job done by being truthful, but also by letting him be unpredictable and not showing our cards," Haley told NBC News' Craig Melvin in an interview airing on on "Today" Wednesday.
"He would ratchet up the rhetoric, and then I'd go back to the ambassadors and say: 'You know, he's pretty upset. I can't promise you what he's going to do or not, but I can tell you if we do these sanctions, it will keep him from going too far,'" she said in the exclusive interview.
But even though Trump has been unpredictable, Haley said she never strayed from where he wanted his policy to go.
Haley also commented on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying she believes Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his government are responsible, but cautioned the United States must be careful about confronting Saudi Arabia, a vital ally in the Middle East.
"It was the Saudi government, and MBS is the head of the Saudi government," Haley said. "They are all responsible, and they don't get a pass, not an individual, not the government — they don't get a pass."
She also commented about State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who Trump said he will nominate as her successor, defending Nauert from critics who say she might not know enough about foreign policy to be successful.
"A lot of people said that about me," said Haley. "I think that we should give her the opportunity to prove to the American public what she can do."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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