Nikki Haley — President-elect Donald Trump’s former Republican primary rival — blasted cabinet picks Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday, expressing serious reservations about their experience and acumen for the agencies they’ve been tapped to head.
The former US ambassador to the UN under Trump tore into Gabbard on her SiriusXM show “Nikki Haley Live” over her nomination to be the next Director of National Intelligence — despite expressing deference in the past toward American adversaries.
“She opposed ending the Iran nuclear deal. She opposed sanctions on Iran. She opposed designating the Iran military as terrorists who say, ‘Death to America’ every single day,” Haley, 52, said. “She said that Donald Trump turned the US into Saudi Arabia’s prostitute.”
“Iran is our number one sponsor of terrorism, and Tulsi Gabbard was defending Iran,” she added, declaring that the intelligence post overseeing 17 critical agencies was “not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.”
The former South Carolina governor also said it was “disgusting” that Gabbard, 43, went for a “photo op with Bashar al-Assad” in 2017 — and that she was skeptical the Syrian dictator was responsible for chemical attacks against his own people.
Haley labeled Kennedy, who was selected to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, as “not a health guy,” “not educated” or “trained” in health, and a “liberal Democrat” to boot.
“RFK Jr., our possible future Health and Human Services appointee, endorsed Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. He said just this past year that he and Trump’s positions ‘could not be further apart,’” Haley said, adding that the Kennedy scion is also “strongly pro-choice” on abortion.
She also went after Kennedy, 70, for wanting “more oversight on pharma,” and suggested he should be an adviser — not in the cabinet — given his lack of direct experience.
“So some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know, when he is given reins to an agency, what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes.”
Donald Trump Jr., who has been involved in the cabinet-selection process at Mar-a-Lago, dismissed the onslaught of accusations as more neoconservative critiques of solid appointees.
“If Nikki Haley really wants a cabinet filled with neocon warmongers to satisfy the billionaire donors that control her, she should try running for President and winning herself,” the eldest Trump son mocked in an X post. “Oh wait, I forgot she already tried that and lost in a landslide.”
Haley, who previously served as Trump’s UN ambassador and had to go through the confirmation process, also said there may be difficulties getting Attorney General-designate Matt Gaetz and Secretary of Defense pick Pete Hegseth through — due to the allegations about their previous sexual relationships with women.
Haley and Trump diffused some of their tension after a bitter primary battle, with her even speaking for the former president at the Republican National Convention.
The relationship did not go back to what it was, however, and Trump, 78, said he would not be inviting Haley to join his administration, despite previously indicating he would be open to the possibility.
Reps for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.