Nikki Haley responds to suggestion she got 'ahead of the curve' on Russia sanctions

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had a brief but pointed response Tuesday to a White House official's suggestion that she "got ahead of the curve" when she said new sanctions on Russia were set to be announced.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters early in the afternoon that there "might have been some momentary confusion" about the issue, according to the AP.

A few hours later, Haley responded.

“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” Haley told Fox News and confirmed by CBS News.

Haley's remark had an immediate impact. Kudlow apologized for what he said, but new sanctions against Russia don't appear to be any closer to being enforced.

“She was certainly not confused. I was wrong to say that — totally wrong,” Kudlow told The New York Times, saying he called Haley and apologized. “As it turns out, she was basically following what she thought was policy. The policy was changed and she wasn’t told about it, so she was in a box.”

The issue began when Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, saying Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was going to announce additional sanctions that would target “any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to (Syria) and chemical weapons use," according to thehill.com.

But the Washington Post reported President Donald Trump conferred with his national security advisers later Sunday and told them he was upset the sanctions were being officially rolled out because he was not yet comfortable executing them.

Instead, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Monday that "a decision will be made in the near future."

This story was originally published April 17, 2018 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Nikki Haley responds to suggestion she got 'ahead of the curve' on Russia sanctions."