Since Donald Trump won the US election against Vice President Kamala Harris, he has been working behind closed doors at his luxury Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach (Florida) to create his government. Recently, Trump has shown who will not be part of it.
"I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join the Trump administration, which is currently under construction," Trump wrote on his Social Truth platform.
“I have enjoyed and appreciated working with them so far and would like to thank them for their service to our country. Make America great again!", continues Trump's message.
Both Haley and Pompeo have previously made critical comments about Trump.
In the Republican primary campaign, Haley — the former U.N. ambassador to the U.S. — was Trump's strongest opponent and last remaining challenger until she withdrew from the race in early March. Only at the end of May she declared that she would vote for Trump in the presidential elections. In January, she described Trump as "totally independent" in an interview with conservative Fox News.
Former CIA director Mike Pompeo is not one of Trump's most vocal supporters and has criticized, among other things, his handling of classified documents (both the new and the old president had kept confidential government documents at his villa luxurious Mar-a-Lago). However, Pompeo was Secretary of State under Trump and was now considered Secretary of Defense.
Trump has stated several times that his biggest mistake in his first term in office was hiring the wrong staff. But now he knows "the best people".
For Trump, "loyalty is the most important prerequisite for work" in his government, writes the New York Post.