Nikki Haley breaks with Trump on retaliation: ‘You have to protect the whistleblower’

Nikki Haley broke with President Donald Trump on the question of outing the White House whistleblower during a Thursday appearance on CNN.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations, was interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

" Do you agree with the president that the whistleblower should be named and identified?" Blitzer asked.

"I believe in whistle-blower laws. I think you have to protect the whistle-blower and I think in turn they have to abide by those laws, the fact they don’t allow partisan leaking or anything like that to happen," Haley replied. "We don’t know that’s happened either, but until then I do think we should always protect the whistleblower."

"On this issue, you disagree with the president," Blitzer noted.

"You can call it disagreeing, I think whistleblowers should be protected," Haley replied.

"He wants the whistleblower to be named," Blitzer noted. "In this area, you believe in the law, to protect the whistleblower?"

"I do," Haley replied.