Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State during Donald Trump’s presidency, wrote in his upcoming memoir that there was a plot by former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Ivanka Trump, and Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner to oust Vice President Mike Pence from being Trump’s number two guy and have Nikki Haley take on the seat as his number two gal.
In his new book, “Never Give an Inch: Fighting For The America I Love,” Pompeo said that Haley played Trump’s former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, by securing a personal meeting with the former President. She attended the meeting with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both senior advisers to the President.
In an excerpt from the book, acquired by The Guardian, Pompeo wrote that Kelly suspected the trio was conspiring to get Haley to replace Pence. Kelly felt the trio had sabotaged his work.
There was growing speculation that Trump planned to ditch Mike Pence in favor of Haley, the former South Carolina governor, during his 2020 election campaign. That talk became so hot that Trump had to speak out publicly and deny the reports and reaffirm that Pence would remain his running mate.
In his book, which will be released next week, Pompeo expressed his disdain for Haley, who, like him, is expected to make an announcement about running for President in 2024.
Pompeo criticized her ambassador position, saying that it was a job much less important than people thought. He also questioned her commitment to public service, saying that her ambitions were far more important to her.
Pompeo wrote that Haley described her job as an ambassador as going toe to toe with tyrants. He questioned her motives for leaving the job, writing that if that was so, why would she leave such an important role, especially at such a time? Haley served for two years as the US Ambassador to the United Nations. She quit the job at the end of 2018.
Will Pompeo and Haley be fighting for the 2024 Republican Party nomination?
Haley is not the only topic of discussion in the book, as Pompeo also reveals that former president Trump had the crazy idea that Pompeo could serve as the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, simultaneously.
He said that Trump wanted him to add the Secretary of Defense responsibilities to his duties. He writes that in July 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was at its worst, former chief of Staff Mark Meadows told him that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper would not be at the Pentagon for much longer.
Meadows told Pompeo that the former President wanted him to take on the leadership of both departments, but he declined.
With only a year away from the coming primaries, Trump is the only Republican who has publicly declared his interest in running for President.
Unlike the former US Vice President Mike Pence’s memoir, “So Help Me God,” Pompeo avoids criticizing his former boss and seemed to be comfortable with Trump’s vulgar language.
According to Pompeo, Trump called John Bolton, a former national security adviser, a “scumbag loser.” Bolton went on to write his own memoir detailing private conversations with Trump. According to Pompeo’s book, Bolton should be imprisoned for giving out classified information.
The Trump administration tried to stop the publication of Bolton’s memoir but failed.
What other detailed gossip is in the latest memoir from a person who was more than a fly on the wall at the White House?