Nikki Haley takes center stage during Trump’s UN debut

Her appearance was just the latest instance in which the nation’s chief diplomat ceded the spotlight to Haley, who has emerged as the public face of the Trump administration’s foreign policy amid a series of international crises.

With President Trump and key Cabinet members gathered on Haley’s home turf at the U.N. headquarters this week, the former South Carolina governor was bound to play a prominent role in the public representation of Trump’s agenda.

But Haley took on more this week than her basic responsibility as the administration’s liaison to the U.N. required her to do. She also embarked on a media tour the morning after Trump’s address to the General Assembly to defend his most controversial statements about North Korea, sat beside and introduced Trump at his first event of the week and bookended the trip with wide-ranging press conferences.

Tillerson, on the other hand, took questions from journalists Wednesday evening on Iran but otherwise made few waves of his own at the summit, heightening speculation that Haley could not only eclipse his public profile, but one day ascend to his job.

Haley attempted to shoot down such rumors on Thursday when a reporter asked her directly whether she aspired to become the secretary of state.

“There’s going to be chatter about things. Ever since I was a legislator, people have been talking about what I’m trying to do or supposed to do,” Haley said. “What I’m trying to is do a good job.”

Trump, who has frequently praised Haley, was happy with his U.N. ambassador’s performance this week at the General Assembly gathering, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

“He is very grateful she is on his team and has been pleased with her service and her efforts to promote his agenda,” Sanders told the Washington Examiner.

Richard Gowan, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Haley has seen her clout within the administration reach an all-time high in recent weeks.

“Haley’s influence has varied over time,” Gowan said. “At the start of the year, she played an important role in shaping the new administration’s strategic messaging by taking a firm line on Russia over Ukraine and Syria while the White House was struggling to get on its feet.”

Indeed, in early February, Haley made her debut at the U.N. Security Council by calling for “clear and strong condemnation of Russian actions” in Ukraine and vowing to keep in place Obama-era sanctions against Russia related to its annexation of Crimea. At the time, the Trump administration was still navigating controversy over former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s secret conversations with the Russian ambassador about potentially lifting sanctions.

Gowan noted Haley’s influence seemingly dipped over the summer, when she turned her attention to “issues like cutting the U.N. peacekeeping budget and humanitarian aid” and away from sweeping foreign policy issues.

“But Haley has made a major comeback in the last two months, securing two big Security Council resolutions on North Korea and articulating the administration’s doubts about the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action],” Gowan said, referring to the Iran nuclear deal by its formal title. “She seems to be more influential now than any time before.”

Haley has taken perhaps the hardest line against the Iran deal of anyone else in the administration beyond the president himself. Earlier this month, she delivered a widely discussed speech about the JCPOA to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, in which she laid the groundwork for Trump to decertify the deal next month based on provocations that fall outside the parameters of the agreement. Trump must decide by Oct. 15 whether he plans to remain in the deal, although he told reporters on Wednesday that he has already made up his mind on its future.

Gowan said Trump’s successful maiden voyage to the UNGA is likely a result of Haley’s efforts.

“Haley should also get a good deal of credit for stage-managing a pretty disciplined, if extremely hawkish, appearance by Trump at the General Assembly this week,” he said.

Trump came out strongly against the JCPOA in his speech to the U.N. on Tuesday, and has referenced his displeasure with the deal in the days since. Even so, Tillerson said in an interview on Tuesday that Trump wanted to renegotiate — not end — the agreement the president described as “an embarrassment to the United States.”

Tillerson’s reluctance to provide a full-throated indictment of the Iran deal seemingly put him at odds with Haley, who has argued that the issue of Tehran’s compliance with the JCPOA goes beyond its adherence to the letter of the Obama administration’s terms.

Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster have advocated internally for Trump to recertify the deal next month, while Haley has pushed Trump not to, according to a source familiar with the situation. That source said Haley has been an effective critic both publicly and privately of the JCPOA, although the source warned that the alternative she seems to favor — relying on companion legislation known as the Corker-Cardin law to allow Congress a vote on the deal — could ultimately cause a gridlock that leaves the deal untouched.

Haley’s efforts to amplify Trump’s skepticism of the Iran deal have landed her in the news far more often than Tillerson, who grants fewer interviews to the media and espouses a more nuanced approach to the JCPOA when he does speak to reporters.

And Haley is among a dwindling number of high-profile administration officials on whom Trump has not soured and who has not yet caused a controversy on her own.

For example, Trump has lambasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. He has reportedly grown displeased with Tillerson’s lackluster performance at the State Department and livid at National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn for his open dismay about the president’s reaction to racial violence in Charlottesville, Va. last month. Trump’s Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, has caused a minor stir in recent weeks by requesting private jets for his travel, and Mnuchin’s wife sparked a dust-up by appearing to flaunt her wealth on social media.

Haley, however, has managed to remain one of the administration’s most recognizable faces — and one of the president’s favorite appointees — while avoiding much of the drama that has sucked in several of her colleagues.

Gowan said her rising star power could prove to be a double-edged sword.

“Haley has to be careful,” Gowan said. “The more Trump sees her winning headlines, the more he’ll worry she’s a potential rival.”