Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley isn’t on board with several of Trump’s Cabinet picks, she told listeners on her recent podcast episode of Nikki Haley Live.

The former 2024 presidential candidate is concerned about some of Trump’s picks, but said she is looking at the policies for these nominations instead of personalities.

She said Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida will have “a lot of issues,” getting confirmed as Attorney General.

“It’s hard to start a confirmation when you have allegations of illicit drug use and sex parties with minors,” Haley said of Gaetz. “So that’s going to be difficult. The same goes for Pete Hegseth, who was accused of sexual assault.”

Gaetz withdrew his name to be Attorney General on Thursday.

“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General,” he posted on social media platform X.

Gaetz has been accused of sexual misconduct allegations including having sex with a minor, which he has long denied.

Haley said while the two have a right to defend themselves, they would have to answer to these allegations.

Haley said Health and Human Services nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who also ran as a 2024 presidential candidate as an Independent, is “not a health guy.”

“He is not educated, trained or practiced in health at all,” Haley said, after explaining the role HHS has on society and the branches it covers, like the FDA and National Institutes of Health.

When Kennedy dropped out of the presidential election, he asked his supporters to back Trump. At the time, Trump signaled he would consider Kennedy for a role in his administration.

Haley also detailed some of his strongly Democratic views, including his stance on climate change and abortion. She said Kennedy said his and Trump’s positions could not be “further apart.”

“Why are we putting someone that’s so ideologically opposed to Donald Trump’s views and Republican views? Why do we want that? You know, but what else do we know about his views?” Haley asked.

Haley served under the Trump administration as U.N. Ambassador during his first term in office. She and Trump had a tumultuous relationship during their time campaigning against one another, often calling each other names and trading insults. Haley, however, said she would be voting for Trump months after she dropped out, and Trump said Haley would be a part of his administration again “in some form,” while he was campaigning.

However, once Trump was elected, he made a social media post that said Haley would not be returning to work with him.

She also has “major issues” on the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard, who was nominated for Director of National Intelligence, Haley said Wednesday.

Haley talked about Gabbard’s history of criticizing and disagreeing with Trump on various national intelligence proposals. She also questioned Gabbard decisions like going to Syria in 2017 for a “photo op” with Bashar al-Assad, the current president of Syria, who was massacring his own people, Haley said.

“Now, this to me is disgusting,” Haley said. “You can go back and look at a speech I gave holding up pictures of dead children who had been killed by chemical attacks. Yup, choked to death.”

She said the Department of National Intelligence analyzes real threats, and it is not a place for Russian, Iranian, Syrian or Chinese sympathizers.

_____

©2024 The State. Visit thestate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.