Dina Powell, a Goldman Sachs executive and former Trump administration official, is no longer in the running to become President Trump’s next ambassador to the United Nations, a senior administration official said Thursday.
Trump had openly discussed Powell as a possible successor to Nikki Haley, the current U.S. ambassador to the U.N. who announced on Tuesday she would resign at year’s end.
{mosads}”Dina would love it,” the president told reporters Tuesday inside his office aboard Air Force One.
Powell left the White House at the beginning of the year after serving as a deputy national security adviser focused on planning and Middle East policy.
The official did not explain why Powell was no longer under consideration. But media reports earlier Thursday said she had a desire to remain at Goldman Sachs, where she currently serves on the management committee.
Powell, who formerly served in the George W. Bush administration, was seen as a steady hand inside the Trump White House but she was also a lightning rod for criticism.
Many right-wing Trump supporters derided her as a “globalist” whose views were not compatible with the administration. She was a close ally of Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president and National Economic Council chairman who faced similar criticism.
Trump has said there are five names on his short list to succeed Haley, who has served as U.N. envoy since the president’s inauguration. Trump told reporters Tuesday that Powell was on the short list, but declined to list other names.
— Updated 7:40 p.m.