This Tuesday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley fired back at the White House after Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said she experienced a moment of “confusion” when she announced there would be new sanctions on Russia.
In a statement that was read on air at Fox News, Haley said, “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”
Haley’s pushback came after Kudlow said she “got ahead of the curve” when she announced Sunday that the sanctions would be imposed the next day.
“There might have been some momentary confusion about that,” Kudlow told reporters according to The Hill.
But in a statement to The New York Times later that day, Kudlow said he had misspoken.
“She was certainly not confused,” Kudlow said. “I was wrong to say that — totally wrong.”
From The Hill:
The back-and-forth revealed a simmering dispute within the administration over the sanctions mix-up.
The White House said Monday that Trump has not decided to impose sanctions on Russia in response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria, a key Kremlin ally, contradicting Haley’s comments.
After Haley made the comments on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” some Trump allies privately accused Haley — a vocal Russia hawk — of trying to box in the president on a decision.
Sources close to the White House said Trump, who has at times been hesitant to forcefully criticize Russia, has been reluctant about moving forward with additional sanctions.
Kudlow said Haley “was following policy as she knew it. The policy got changed late, and she wasn’t told,” — comments that suggest she was left out of the loop.
Welcome to the drama that is Trumplandia, Nikki Haley.
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