Haley fires back at White House: ‘I don’t get confused’

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley hit back at the White House on Tuesday, denying a top adviser’s claim that she was confused when she said the administration would impose new sanctions on Russia.

“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” Haley told Fox News’s Dana Perino in a statement that was read on-air.

Haley’s pointed statement came hours after top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that Haley “got ahead of the curve” when she announced Sunday that the administration would roll out the sanctions the next day.

“There might have been some momentary confusion about that,” Kudlow told reporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

{mosads}Kudlow later walked back his comments, telling The New York Times he called Haley to say he had misspoken based on incomplete information. 

“She was certainly not confused,” Kudlow told the paper. “I was wrong to say that — totally wrong.”

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. 

Haley’s comments strongly suggest there was a miscommunication about whether the president has decided to impose sanctions, and that she was left out of the loop. 

Kudlow told the Times that “she was following policy as she knew it. The policy got changed late, and she wasn’t told.”

Until this week, Haley had largely avoided the infighting that has dominated the Trump administration. But her response to the White House could pull her into the swirling drama that has doomed several administration aides. 

Several West Wing allies privately grumbled about Haley’s comments on “Face the Nation,” but Kudlow was the first official to do so publicly when he spoke on Tuesday.

Asked if there is confusion about sanctions in the White House, Kudlow denied that is the case.  

“I think the issue here is we have a set of sanctions, and additional sanctions are under consideration but not been determined,” he said. 

The flap comes at a time of rapid turnover on Trump’s national security team, something sources said could have helped create confusion about the sanctions plan.

Trump’s secretary of State nominee, Mike Pompeo, has not been confirmed by the Senate, leaving the State Department without a permanent leader. 

Several top officials on the National Security Council have been forced out or resigned since John Bolton took over as national security adviser on April 9. 

Updated at 8:14 p.m.