Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has slammed a “disgusting” rumour that she had an affair with President Donald Trump.
Speaking on POLITICO’s “Women Rule” podcast, Haley said the “highly offensive” rumour was typical of the challenges faced by strong women who manage to work their way up to positions of power.
“At every point in my life, I’ve noticed that if you speak your mind and you’re strong about it and you say what you believe, there is a small percentage of people that resent that,” she said. “And the way they deal with it is to try and throw arrows — lies or not — to diminish you.”
The rumour was sparked by comments made by Michael Wolff, author of the book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, during an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Wolff said on the show that he was certain Trump was having an affair, but that he didn’t have enough proof to include the scandal in his book.
However, he hinted that a close read of his book would reveal who Trump is having an affair with. Readers quickly pointed to a line in the book’s epilogue which says that Trump was “spending a notable amount of private time with Haley” on Air Force One.
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Haley vehemently denied the insinuation, telling Women Rule podcast listeners that, “I have literally been on Air Force One once and there were several people in the room when I was there.”
She also denied the book’s claim that Trump was actively grooming her for a national political future, saying, “I’ve never talked once to the president about my future and I am never alone with him.”
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It’s not the first time Haley has faced accusations of affairs. A CNN profile of Haley’s from 2016 notes multiple rumours, all of which are unproven and have been denied by Haley.
Haley endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for the Republican primary in 2016, prompting Trump to tweet that the people of South Carolina, where Haley was governor, were “embarrassed” by her. However, Trump ended up nominating Haley for the position of UN ambassador following his election to the presidency.
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