A disagreement over Russian sanctions has turned into a public row between the White House and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Both sides are unsure as to when, and how exactly, the misunderstanding came about.
Mrs. Haley left the West Wing last Friday with the understanding that the Trump administration would be leveling new economic sanctions against Russia for their ongoing support for the Bashar Assad regime in Syria.
Assad is accused of perpetrating a chemical weapons attack on Syrian citizens earlier this month that left dozens of people dead and hundreds injured. The attack prompted missile strikes from U.S., French and British forces over last weekend that destroyed three facilities described as integral to Syria’s chemical weapons program.
The attack by Assad also prompted the most vocal criticism by President Trump of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the President has been in office.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” the President wrote on Twitter ahead of the strikes.
The new sanctions were purportedly meant to pressure Russia into convincing Assad to resume peace talks being pushed by the European Union meant to end the Syrian Civil War.
Haley’s understanding is further reinforced by materials issued by the White House itself to surrogates the next day, Saturday. “We also intend to impose specific additional sanctions against Russia to respond to Moscow’s ongoing support for the Assad regime, which has enabled the regime’s atrocities against the Syrian people,” said a document titled “White House talking points” that was distributed by the RNC.
Sunday morning, Haley laid those sentiments out on CBS’ Face the Nation. “You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down. [Treasury] Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday if he hasn’t already and they will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use,” Haley said.
“And so I think everyone is going to feel it at this point. I think everyone knows that we sent a strong message and our hope is that they listen to it,” she added.
But on Monday, the White House announced no new sanctions would be coming down. Yesterday they suggested Haley had been “confused” about the episode.
“She got ahead of the curve,” said newly-installed National Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow, to reporters at the President’s Florida estate. “She’s done a great job. She’s a very effective ambassador, but there might have been some momentary confusion about that.”
Haley to fire back. “With all due respect,” she said in a statement, “I don’t get confused.”
Kudlow says he called Haley yesterday to apologize for his choice of words. “She was certainly not confused,” Mr. Kudlow told The New York Times. “I was wrong to say that — totally wrong. 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,” he added.
The fracas is the latest in a series of episodes where senior administration officials are allowed to make statements in public, only to have them contradicted by other senior officials or the President himself.
It is also the latest example of a relationship between the White House and Haley that has soured in recent weeks. Haley’s own political ambitions, which include rumors of public angling for the Secretary of State position as well as a possible White House run of her own in 2024, have fueled the straining.
Photo by Staff Sgt. Jorge Intriago via Wikimedia Commons