| Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to be to US ambassador to the United Nations |
Donald Trump’s pick for UN ambassador echoed his condemnation of the world body and pledged to push for reforms at her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, but broke from the president-elect on some foreign policy issues, including Russia.
Nikki Haley, a rising star in the Republican Party, faced tough questioning from some members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about her lack of diplomatic experience. Haley, who turns 45 on Friday when Trump takes office, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011.
Haley seconded criticism of the United Nations by Trump and many of their fellow Republicans, especially for what she termed its “bias” against Israel, including a Security Council resolution last month demanding an end to settlement building that the United States declined to veto.
Trump took to Twitter recently to criticise the 193-member world body as “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!” He warned that “things will be different” after he takes office, without offering details.
Haley told the hearing that Washington should always back Israel. “If we always stand with them, more countries will want to be our allies,” she said.
Promising to work with Congress to push for reforms at the world body, Haley said: “The American people see the UN’s mistreatment of Israel, its failure to prevent the North Korean nuclear threat, its waste and corruption, and they are fed up.”
But she praised some UN work, including food programmes, efforts to alleviate Aids, weapons monitoring and some peacekeeping missions, a departure from Trump’s criticisms of the international organisation.
Haley also broke from Trump’s praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin. She said she considered Russian actions in Syria such as bombing hospitals “war crimes,” condemned its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and said she would oppose easing sanctions until Moscow changes.
“I think that Russia has to have positive actions before we lift any sanctions on Russia,” she said.
She promised to bring a message to Russia’s U.N. ambassador that the United States will not accept its attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election, in which Trump won the White House.