UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has dismissed “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff’s hints that she’s having an affair with Donald Trump as “disgusting” and “highly offensive.”
While Wolff has admitted he can’t prove the affair, he said last week on “Real Time With Bill Maher” that readers should pay close attention to a section near the end of the book that hints at an affair between her and Trump.
“It is absolutely not true,” Haley said on POLITICO’s Women Rule podcast. “It is highly offensive, and it is disgusting. It amazes me what people will do and the lies they will say for money and power… I have literally been on Air Force One once and there were several people in the room when I was there. He says that I’ve been talking a lot with the president in the Oval about my political future. I’ve never talked once to the president about my future and I am never alone with him.”
“Now that I’ve told you, when you hit that paragraph you’re going to say bingo,” Wolff told Maher. At first cagey, he said it was something he is “absolutely sure of, but was so incendiary that I just didn’t have the ultimate proof.”
Wolff hinted that the passage was near the book. Careful readers identified a section where he wrote:
By October, however, many on the president’s staff took particular notice of one of the few remaining Trump opportunists: Nikki Haley, the UN ambassador. Haley — ‘as ambitious as Lucifer,” in the characterization of one member of the senior staff — had concluded that Trump’s tenure would last, at best, a single term, and that she, with requisite submission, could be his heir apparent. Haley had courted and befriended Ivanka, and Ivanka had brought her into the family circle, where she had become a particular focus of Trump’s attention, and he of hers.
The book said that Trump “had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One and was seen to be grooming her for a political future.”
Wolff cited one “senior Trumper” who said the problem with Trump mentoring Haley “is that she is so much smarter than him.”
Haley also served as the 116th governor of South Carolina and was the state’s first female governor. She campaigned for Marco Rubio and then supported Ted Cruz, and was one of Trump’s earliest Republican critics. When she gave the Republican response to President Obama’s final State of the Union address, she seemed to criticize Trump when she said: “During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.” Trump responded by calling her “weak” on immigration.
Still, she opted to join Trump’s administration when offered the UN job.
Wolff has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
You can listen to Haley’s full interview here:
2020 Presidential Election Odds: Can Oprah Challenge Trump? (Photos)
Oprah Winfrey's Golden Globes speech inspired stars, including Meryl Streep, to endorse their candidate -- even though the entertainment mogul isn't officially running... yet. With the next election cycle on the horizon, bookmakers are asking who might challenge President Trump in 2020. The website betonline.ag shared its current odds on who will next win the White House.
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Marco Rubio - 50/1 Odds
Rubio earned the nickname "Little Marco" from Trump during the Republican primary. Would he think to challenge his own party by running again?
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Amy Klobuchar - 50/1 Odds
Klobuchar is a senator from Minnesota and another democratic rising star.
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Andrew Cuomo - 50/1 Odds
The governor of New York has frequently feuded with Trump and his sons.
Mark Cuban - 50/1 Odds
"I think there is a place for somebody who is socially a centrist, but I'm fiscally conservative," Cuban said on Fox News back in October, hinting he may run, but as a Republican.
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Paul Ryan - 50/1 Odds
When Ryan was reported to have his sights set on retiring as Speaker of the House, the White House denied it and suggested Trump and Ryan are working together just fine.
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Julian Castro - 50/1 Odds
Obama's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is a Texas native, the former mayor of San Antonio and is considered a rising star among Democrats.
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - 40/1 Odds
"The Rock" teased a presidential run in one of his "SNL" stints, but he may be smart to consider a vice president spot after hearing Oprah's Golden Globes speech.
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Michael Bloomberg - 40/1 Odds
The former New York mayor's name was also floated back in 2016, but his odds are down from 33/1 since then.
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Ben Shapiro - 33/1 Odds
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro has suggested he may stage a run for president in 2020. If we know one thing about his possible candidacy, it's that Rosie O'Donnell won't be stumping for him.
Kirsten Gillibrand - 33/1 Odds
The New York senator pushed back hard at Trump after he suggested that she was a "flunky" who "would do anything" for campaign contributions.
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Mark Zuckerberg - 33/1 Odds
The Silicon Valley CEO disputed Trump's tweet that Facebook was biased against him, but has been focusing his attention on eliminating Russian trolls' influence over the site.
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Michelle Obama - 33/1 Odds
“Why don’t you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you and why is that a partisan issue," the former first lady asked of President Trump, just one instance of how she's challenged the current administration.
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Cory Booker - 25/1 Odds
Currently only 48, Booker is one of several young democratic hopefuls who could challenge Trump in 2020.
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Elizabeth Warren - 20/1 Odds
Elizabeth Warren is still a popular candidate, but the list of young, Democratic contenders is deep.
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Bernie Sanders - 14/1 Odds
The Vermont senator would be 79 in 2020. Would he run again?
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Mike Pence - 14/1 Odds
The odds for Trump's VP are predictably the best among other Republican contenders.
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Kamala Harris - 12/1 Odds
The first-year senator from California has earned a lot of points in the last year thanks to her persistence in grilling Jeff Sessions in front of Congress.
Oprah's odds rocketed up after her inspiring Golden Globes speech, and her odds have improved from January 8 when she was listed at 20/1, but it's still anyone's guess as to whether she'll actually run.
See who may throw their hat in the ring for the White House and learn their chances of winning
Oprah Winfrey's Golden Globes speech inspired stars, including Meryl Streep, to endorse their candidate -- even though the entertainment mogul isn't officially running... yet. With the next election cycle on the horizon, bookmakers are asking who might challenge President Trump in 2020. The website betonline.ag shared its current odds on who will next win the White House.