Are members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet talking about removing him from office? No, according to Nikki Haley.
The former S.C. governor, now the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is talking about the subject after the New York Times reported Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, ousting the president if the majority of cabinet members think he is incapable of doing the job.
Haley, a member of Trump’s cabinet, called the idea “absurd.”
“I’m there almost every other week, and I can tell you, never has anyone talked about the 25th Amendment,” Haley said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “Never has anyone even questioned the president’s mental stability or anything.”
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Haley made similar comments in an interview Monday on CNN, appearing alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Literally, I have never once been in the White House where that conversation has happened,” Haley said. “I am not aware of any cabinet member talking about that. It is completely and totally absurd.”
According to the Times, Rosenstein discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment about the same time that Trump fired FBI director James Comey, in May 2017. The No. 2 official at the Justice Department — appointed by Trump — even discussed secretly recording the president as part of the initiative, the Times reports.
On Monday, it was reported Rosenstein was considering resigning in anticipation of being fired by the president. The two men are scheduled to meet Thursday, after Trump returns from a meeting Tuesday at the United Nations in New York.
Haley was asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos if the talk around the 25th Amendment supports accusations of dysfunction and mistrust among top Trump officials in the new book by investigative journalist Bob Woodward.
Haley was dismissive of the book.
“When you have people who won’t go on the record, you have to question whether it’s true,” said of the book’s use of “background” information from unidentified Trump officials. “If that’s the case, say it. If that’s the case, leave.”
Haley said cabinet officials’ biggest frustrations have been “the distractions we have to deal with in the process, whether it’s the Mueller case, whether it’s the extra gossip of the day. ... It’s never about the president.”
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