Nikki Haley raised eyebrows by denying rumors that she was angling to replace Vice President Mike Pence as Donald Trump's running mate in 2020, and now there's some new reporting on what's behind that chatter.
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor tweeted out a denial of "false rumors" -- which hadn't seemed to have spread beyond the White House -- that she wanted to join Trump on the ticket.
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan told MSNBC's "First Look" that the president's daughter and son-in-law had discussed the possibility of replacing Pence with Haley, who instead has signed on as a "special guest" at a Trump-Pence fundraising retreat in the fall.
"It was somewhat of a relief to some people in the administration who've been very wary of her intentions," Swan said, "and as ambassador Haley said herself, rumors have been circulating that she had designs on replacing Pence on the ticket."
"Certainly, there have been a number of people telling people in the White House, including the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump, that Nikki Haley would be a politically smart choice to replace Pence," Swan added. "So this is partly why a lot of these rumors have been circulating."