Nikki Haley has launched into a blistering critique of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr, slamming the former as “a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.”
The former United Nations Ambassador in Trump’s first administration raised major concerns about Gabbard, who was picked as director of national security, and RFK Jr, who was nominated Health and Human Services secretary, during her SiriusXM show Nikki Haley Live on Wednesday.
Haley first torched the one-time Democratic congresswoman’s stance on foreign policy, including her favorable positions of Russian and Syrian dictators.
“She opposed ending the Iran nuclear deal. She opposed sanctions on Iran. She opposed designating the Iran military as terrorists who say death to America every single day,” the former South Carolina governor said.
“She said that Donald Trump turned the US into Saudi Arabia’s prostitute. This is going to be the future head of our national intelligence.”
The former GOP presidential contender then took a swipe at Gabbard’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, after the military veteran posted on X in February 2022 about “Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO.”
Haley continued: “After Russia invaded Ukraine, Tulsi Gabbard literally blamed NATO, our Western alliance that’s responsible for countering Russia.
“She blamed NATO for the attack on Ukraine, and the Russians and the Chinese echoed her talking points and her interviews on Russian and Chinese television.”
She also shared her disdain over Gabbard’s trip to Syria in January 2017 where she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, branding it “disgusting” that the former Hawaii representative went to Syria “for a photo op.”
Haley, who Trump confirmed would not be rehired to his administration earlier this month, concluded: “So now she’s defended Russia, she’s defended Syria, she’s defended Iran, and she’s defended China. No, she has not denounced any of these views. None of them. She hasn’t taken one of them back.”
She warned: “This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.”
Turning her attention towards RFK Jr, Haley branded the Kennedy family scion a “liberal” whose healthcare inexperience may be costly to the nation.
“He’s a liberal Democrat, environmental attorney, trial lawyer who will now be overseeing 25 percent of our federal budget and has no background in health care,” she said.
“So some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know, when he is given reins to an agency, what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes.”
Neither Gabbard nor RFK Jr have responded to the criticism.
Haley’s comments comes as Trump has made a string of controversial choices for the top jobs in his future administration.
The New York Post’s editorial board, a Rupert Murdoch-owned, conservative paper, has also implored the president-elect to “rethink” some of his choices in an op-ed on Wednesday, calling Gabbard and Trump’s attorney general pick Matt Gaetz “dreadful.”
The conservative tabloid newspaper wrote: “They’re distracting chaos agents who won’t accomplish what Trump wants them to, and will most likely backfire on his agenda.”
Like Haley, the Post raised concerns that Gabbard could downplay global threats to Trump because she is too emotionally invested in foreign entities – citing her cozying up to Russian state media.
