“Nikki Haley’s View of New York Is Priceless. Her Curtains? $52,701,” a headline from the New York Times informed readers Thursday. (The headline has since been changed to “State Department Spent $52,701 on Curtains for Nikki Haley’s Residence.”)
In a tweet following, California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu requested an “oversight hearing on @StateDept spending on @nikkihaley and her deputy.”
This is not okay. As a Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I call on @HouseForeign Chairman @RepEdRoyce to hold an oversight hearing on @StateDept spending on @nikkihaley and her deputy. https://t.co/c2ipX1s79d
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 14, 2018
Parkland survivor and activist David Hogg accused Haley of misappropriating “thousands of tax dollars for your own lavish lifestyle” and demanded she resign.
Dear Nikki Haley,
There are starving children in America everyday and you have the audacity to misappropriate thousands of tax dollars for your own lavish lifestyle. Resign immediately
sincerely,
America https://t.co/j9h5t50GPb
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) September 14, 2018
Vogue ran the headline “Nikki Haley Is the Latest White House Big Spender, Thanks to Her $52,000 Curtains” suggesting, in the article, that “Nikki Haley is the latest to join the ranks of those officials who apparently prefer things that come with high price tags (and at taxpayer expense).”
The Times’ report, however, notes in the sixth paragraph that “a spokesman for Ms. Haley said plans to buy the curtains were made in 2016, during the Obama administration,” and “Ms. Haley had no say in the purchase, he said.” (This paragraph was recently moved up two slots in the article.)
A new, unfurnished residence for the ambassador to the U.N. was chosen in the summer of 2016, along with the design plans, furniture, and so forth.
Furthermore, it is the job of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) to furnish the ambassador residency. As their about-section states:
OBO’s mission is to provide safe, secure and functional facilities that represent the U.S. government to the host nation and support our staff in the achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives. These facilities should represent American values and the best in American architecture, design, engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture and construction execution.
As Jake Tapper reports, a source from the U.S. Mission to the U.N. told CNN that “In June of 2016 it was decided that the State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations would outfit the new residence (this is standard operating procedure for Ambassadors’ residences across the globe.)” and that “In July of 2016 the first site visit was complete and the designer from OBO chose and ordered the curtains shortly thereafter (summer 2016). Also SOP [standard operating practice] OBO does not personalize residences to individual Ambassador’s tastes.”
The decision to purchase the curtains was made prior to the 2016 election and Haley’s appointment as ambassador to the U.N. It is inaccurate to implicate Haley in the choosing or purchasing of the curtains chosen by the OBO in 2016.
The New York Post reported earlier this year that the new location of the ambassador residency is less expensive than its previous location at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. A spokesperson told the Post, “The US Mission [to the UN] leases Ambassador Haley’s residence at a considerable costs savings from our prior residence at the Waldorf-Astoria.”
Friday afternoon, the Times added an editor’s note to the report:
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