Haley vows to keep ‘beating up on Russia,’ calls Trump’s tweets ‘chatter’

The administration of US President Donald Trump will continue "beating up on Russia" in the wake of Moscow’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential vote.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley appeared in television interviews broadcast Sunday to say that the commander in chief is OK with pressuring Russia over its alleged role in the election, which yielded President Trump.

“He is not stopping me from beating up on Russia,” she stated, further explaining that, “He's not stopping me from talking about the pressure that China needs to be putting on North Korea. He's not stopping me on how we're working together to defeat ISIL (Daesh).”

In a declassified report released in January, the intelligence community concluded that Russia helped with the New York billionaire’s campaign effort ahead of winning the White House, an allegation dismissed both by Moscow and Trump.

The former South Carolina governor acknowledged Russia’s alleged role in the election, asserting that “We don't want any country involved in our elections ever.”

“Well, certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election,” said the 45-year-old. “There's no question about that. And I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia, they need to act, and they need to make sure they're loud about it.”

Haley, Trump on the same page

The UN envoy’s tone did not exactly echo Trump’s previous words on Russia.

“I think we are both saying the same thing,” she said. “It’s just being reported differently.”

Trump, whose proclivity for Russia has been a source of pressure on his administration, has also been attempting to appear tough in dealing with Moscow.

“There’s no love or anything going on with Russia right now. We are getting our strength back. We are getting our voice back, and we are starting to lead again.”

Trump’s tweets nothing but ‘chatter’

Haley also undermined Trump’s controversial tweets, including a recent one describing a scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “a very difficult one in that we can no longer have massive trade deficits.”

“I think the foreign leaders are picking up the phone and calling him if they have an issue,” Haley said. “And that’s what they’re doing with me. If they have an issue, they’re calling me. They’re not sitting there texting me and saying, ‘What was this tweet about?’”

The Republican further noted that Trump’s tweet amount to nothing but “chatter.”

“You’d have to ask everybody else,” Haley said. “I don’t hear about them. I don’t talk about them. I don’t have them interfere in everything that I’m doing. And so, to me, it’s chatter I don’t focus on. But, you know, you can talk to President Xi and ask him if he’s reading those tweets. I don’t know.”

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