Pompeo says Haley quit Trump admin early – in possible prelude to GOP presidential nomination battle

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a possible 2024 GOP presidential contender, is criticizing fellow Trump administration official Nikki Haley as she officially announces her bid – saying she quit her ambassadorship before the work was done.

"Facts suggest that she left some two years into the administration when there was still an enormous amount of work to do," Pompeo told The Hill on Tuesday, the same day Haley announced her 2024 campaign.

Haley, also a former South Carolina governor, left her role as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in December 2018.

Pompeo said that when Haley left, many of the administration's most prominent foreign policy accomplishments had not yet completed, such as the Abraham Accords, talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and a strong stance against the Chinese Communist Party.

"I knew there was still an enormous amount of work to do and I wasn't about to leave that. Indeed, there was work to do when we left. There's still work to do," Pompeo also said. "I don't understand how someone who believes they have this incredible opportunity in an important role says, 'No thanks, I don't want to do that anymore.'"

Haley has sparred with Pompeo before. She accused him of spreading "lies and gossip to sell a book" after he published his memoir, "Never Give An Inch." 

In his book, Pompeo criticized Haley and wrote that it was thought that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were presenting Haley as a possible option for vice president.