A CNN panel couldn't help but laugh over President-elect Donald Trump’s unsolicited announcement over the weekend that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley would not be invited to join his new administration.
The public snub, according to former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, “was quintessential Trump,” she said, after a hearty chuckle.
“I mean it made it seem like Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley had asked for a position in the administration,” Carlson told CNN’s Anderson Cooper during an appearance Monday on his show, “AC360.” She added: “Maybe, probably not.”
Carlson made the remarks after Cooper said the idea of an olive branch, particularly to Haley during the campaign was floated, “but she committed the ultimate sin, which was running against him in the primary,” he said.
"I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation," Trump wrote Saturday. "I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our Country."
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"Look Nikki Haley is going to run for president again in 2028,” Carlson told Cooper on Monday night. “I believe that’s why she was forced to endorse Trump because she needs his MAGA base if she wants to have a future political career.”
She made the comments during a panel discussion that included CNN political analyst Ana Navarro, who took issue with her characterization.
“She was not forced to do anything,” Navarro said. “She’s a grown a-- woman who chose to do this for her political ambitions. Navarro added that Haley “has lost every modicum of dignity.”
“She begged him to let her campaign with him, and now he's saying ‘Bye, Felicia.’ I mean it truly is, I find it incredibly embarrassing, a woman who had such a bright future – was one of the rising stars in the Republican Party.”
Navarro added that the weekend social media post made it evident that he wants "loyalty."
"One-hundred percent loyalty from everybody he appoints and that he wants MAGA people” to fill his administration, she said.
Watch the clip below or at this link.
