Former President Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley met at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last week amid speculation both are eyeing White House runs in 2024.
Two sources familiar with the meeting confirmed to The Hill that the two sat down, with one calling it “positive.” Neither source said what Trump and Haley discussed.
The meeting was first reported by Politico.
Haley served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations from Jan. 2017 until the end of 2018. She joined the administration after serving as governor of South Carolina for six years.
Haley excoriated Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection in an interview with Politico Magazine, suggesting the former president would no longer be a force in GOP politics.
“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” she said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.”
Those remarks were met with an avalanche of criticism from Trump and his allies, and Haley ultimately softened her tone toward the former president.
She later said in April that she would not run for president if Trump wages a comeback bid in 2024, and she spoke of him positively during a campaign-style speech in South Carolina this week.
“President Trump and the GOP built one of the hottest economies in American history. Wages rose to new heights. Unemployment fell to record lows. Families thrived and businesses grew. Remember what it was like just two years ago?” she said.
Haley isn’t the only Trump administration alum considering a White House bid in 2024. Former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been issuing endorsements for midterm candidates and traveling to key states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Still, Trump is expected to largely freeze the 2024 primary field until he announces whether or not he will run.