Plan B Forum

So now Pence is denying reports that he is positioning himself to run for president in 2020, and even talking with Nikki Haley as his running mate. (A slight to Haley, IMHO.) Regardless, if Pence steps in to fill a Drumpf void we should expect the worst to happen -- nothing good will come of it.

Sue U wrote:
The real puzzler is who Trump will select for UN Ambassador. Javanka? Kanye? Vitaly Churkin?

Big RR wrote:And I was just thinking Bolton.

The real puzzler is who Trump will select for UN Ambassador. Javanka? Kanye? Vitaly Churkin?

Nikki Haley's resignation comes one day after an ethics watchdog requested an investigation into her acceptance of free flights on private jets

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley's abrupt resignation on Tuesday came one day after an ethics watchdog group requested the State Department's inspector general investigate her acceptance of seven free flights aboard private jets from a trio of South Carolina businessmen.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, listed the flights on her 2017 financial disclosure and asserted that each qualified for an exception based on her relationships with the businessmen.

But the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in its complaint that Haley's financial disclosure did not provide enough information to make the assertion that the flights between New York, Washington, DC, and three South Carolina cities qualified for the exemption.

Those flights were most likely worth tens of thousands of dollars, CREW suggested.

"Whether the exception applies depends partly on whether the three businessmen were the only sources of the gifts; if business entities were sources of the gifts, the exception was inapplicable," CREW said. "Federal ethics regulations prohibit employees from soliciting or accepting gifts given because of the employee's official position."

The three businessmen who provided the flights to Haley and her husband were Jimmy Gibbs, Smyth McKissick, and Mikee Johnson. Gibbs is the CEO of Gibbs International, and McKissick and Johnson are CEOs of private companies in South Carolina.

Johnson is chair of The Original Six Foundation, which Haley founded in 2011. McKissick is chairman of Clemson University's board of trustees. Haley is a graduate of the university and her daughter is currently enrolled there as a student.

"By accepting gifts of luxury private flights, Ambassador Haley seems to be falling in line with other Trump administration officials who are reaping personal benefits from their public positions," CREW's executive director, Noah Bookbinder, said in a Monday statement.

Tom Price resigned as the secretary of health and human services last year amid a controversy involving his air travel. Other top Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, have come under fire for their air-travel practices.

It is an honor to serve in the White House alongside so many great colleagues and I know that the President will nominate a formidable replacement for Ambassador Haley. That replacement will not be me,' the first daughter tweeted.