Women who accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct “should be heard”, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has said.
WASHINGTON – Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, is known to not toe the administration’s line when she feels differently, and she has taken a diametrically opposite stand on women who have accused President Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behaviour, saying they “should be heard”.
Trump, who admitted to bragging about sexually assaulting women, saying it was locker room talk, his campaign and the White House have said the accusations were false. They have also said the country dismissed them when they voted Trump to the White House, and it was time to move on.
“They should be heard, and they should be dealt with,” Haley said in an interview with CBS on Sunday. “And I think we heard from them prior to the election. And I think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up.”
The White House has not yet reacted to Haley’s statement, which is expected to come up during the daily press briefing.
The women may have more to say, as the accusers are expected to address a joint news conference to present a united front to re-litigate their case in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
It wasn’t clear how Trump or the White House would take Haley’s remarks about his accusers, given the #MeToo movement is sweeping the country and was caused resignations and ousters from every sphere of American life — entertainment, media, business, food, sports and politics.
Trump could be especially vulnerable at this point because of his support for the Republican candidate for the Senate in Alabama, Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour by multiple women, some of whom were under-age at the time.
Haley, who holds a cabinet rank in the Trump administration, has differed with the president in the past, and publicly — on the Russia sanctions and Russian interference in the elections, and NATO, for instance — and said during her confirmation hearing, “That’s how an administration works. You surround yourself with people who don’t just say ‘yes’.”
But Haley, an Indian-American, has also defended Trump vigorously as his representative at the UN, most recently on the US reversing its decades-old policy to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocating its embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Haley is one of the few members of the Trump team who tends to get away with disagreeing with the president — secretary of state Rex Tillerson and attorney general Jeff Sessions are those that haven’t and routinely get rebuked, publicly. There was even speculation Trump could pick Haley to replace Tillerson.
