Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, says the United States should “never” trust Russia and that President Trump has not tried to steer her away from criticizing the country.
“We cannot trust Russia. We should never trust Russia,” Ms. Haley said in an interview that aired Thursday on NBC’s “Today” program. “I don’t think we want anyone meddling in our elections. That’s why these investigations are going to matter.”
She declined to say that she and Mr. Trump are on exactly the same in terms of their level of distrust for Russia and the country’s president, Vladimir Putin.
“I would not say that,” Ms. Haley said. “I’m not going to talk about where the president is because I don’t know. I have always made it very clear, from my confirmation and in the words that I’ve said at the U.N., that I don’t trust Russia.”
“I think he’s very open-minded about working with everyone. He doesn’t want to cut anyone off,” she said of Mr. Trump.
“What he has allowed me to do is when I see something wrong, I call them out on it. I will always do that,” Ms. Haley said.
“At the same time, if I see an opportunity to work on something with them, like we do with ISIS and Daesh, we’re going to try and do that,” she said.
Ms. Haley said Mr. Trump has never told her “not to slam Russia.”
“He’s not once told me go and be nice to Russia,” she said. “He’s letting me do my job.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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