India’s Adani Group may have passed a key test by raising $2.5 billion in the face of a short-seller attack, but its response to the allegations and the outcome of regulatory probes will shape its prospects, analysts and investors say.

Most of the conglomerate’s shares dropped on Wednesday, extending losses to $84 billion after Hindenburg Research’s report last week alleged improper use of offshore tax havens and flagged concerns about high debt.

The port-to-property group, led by Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest people, has denied the allegations and called them baseless, adding it has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures.

Adani’s latest fundraising was critical, not just because it will help cut the group’s 2.2 trillion rupees ($27 billion) of debt, but also because it was viewed as a test of investor faith amid business and reputational challenges.

The completion of the secondary share offering to raise $2.5 billion, India’s largest such deal, alleviates some of the pressure on Adani’s credibility, said Ken Shih, Hong Kong-based head of wealth management at Saxo Markets.

“But from an offshore investor’s perspective the allegations (made by Hindenburg) … do not seem to be clearly addressed,” he said.

“There may be even more organised short sell attacks … given they were unable to clearly squash all remaining concerns and allegations yet. Until that happens there is blood in the water now and other short sellers might come circling.”

Adani has said Hindenburg’s report was a “calculated attack” on India and its institutions. The U.S. short-seller has said Adani’s “response largely confirmed our findings and ignored our key questions.”

While Adani’s share sale was slightly over-subscribed as bids poured in on the last day from foreign institutional and corporate investors, Indian financial firms stayed away and the response was muted from individual buyers.

The identity of the institutions that placed orders on the last day has not been revealed, but the 30% anchor portion of the sale attracted investors including Maybank Securities and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Adani did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment for this story.

Soon after Hindenburg’s report was made public, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) decided to study it, adding to the regulator’s own ongoing preliminary investigation into the group’s foreign portfolio investors, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources.

Australia’s corporate regulator said on Wednesday it would review the Hindenburg report as concerns raised also relate to Adani’s Australian operations.

State-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIFI.NS), India’s largest insurer, is also reviewing Adani’s response to the scathing criticism and will hold talks with the group’s management within days to seek clarifications.

A U.S.-based investor in dollar bonds issued by Adani’s ports and power units said while it would pay “attention” to the information in the next few weeks, the fund would explore adding to holdings if others sell in the event of ratings downgrade.

“We would get worried if for some reason they couldn’t borrow more money or if their cash flow becomes insufficient to cover debt service. And those two things aren’t happening,” said the investor, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, underscoring the nervousness in some quarters, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) had stopped accepting bonds of Adani group companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients.

Credit Suisse had no immediate comment.

“The question about what next for the allegations partly depends on whether SEBI or others take up the investigation,” said Quiddity Advisors analyst Travis Lundy, who writes on investment research network Smartkarma.

Adani Enterprises lost nearly 6% on Wednesday to bring its losses since the Hindenburg report to more than $8 billion. The current market price of 2,803 rupees is also below the indicative price band for the offering.

“To do another offering, they will need to prove that the last one was a success – either by stock price or by business growth – and they have a grand plan,” Lundy said.

Police investigating a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people at a Pakistan mosque said on Tuesday that several people had been arrested, and they could not rule out the possibility that the bomber had internal assistance evading security checks.

The bombing was the most deadly in a decade to hit Peshawar, a restive northwestern city near the Afghan border, and all but three of those killed were police, making it most suffered by Pakistan’s security forces in a single attack in recent history.

The bomber struck on Monday as hundreds of worshippers gathered for noon prayers in a mosque that was purpose built for the police and their families living in a highly fortified area.

“We have found some excellent clues, and based on these clues we have made some major arrests,” Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters.

“We can’t rule out internal assistance but since the investigation is still in progress, I will not be able to share more details.”

Investigators, who include counter-terrorism and intelligence officials, are focusing on how the attacker managed to breach the military and police checkpoints leading into the Police Lines district, a colonial-era, self-contained encampment in the city centre that is home to middle- and lower-ranking police personnel and their families.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said the bomber was in the first row in the prayer hall when he struck. Remains of the attacker had been recovered, provincial Police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters.

“We believe the attackers are not an organised group,” he added.

The most active militant group in the area, the Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has denied responsibility for the attack, which no group has claimed so far. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had told parliament a breakaway faction of the TTP was to blame.

The blast demolished the upper storey of the mosque. It was is the deadliest in Peshawar since twin suicide bombings at All Saints Church killed scores of worshippers in September 2013, in what remains the deadliest attack on the country’s Christian minority.

Peshawar sits on the edge of the Pashtun tribal lands, a region mired in violence for the past two decades.

The TTP is an umbrella group for Sunni and sectarian Islamist factions opposed to the government in Islamabad. The group has recently stepped up attacks against police.

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State security officials searched the home of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday as part of an investigation into possible financial crimes, several Ukrainian media outlets reported, citing an unnamed official source.

The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the reports. Kolomoiskiy could not be reached for comment.

Kolomoiskiy is one of Ukraine’s richest men and a one-time ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who launched a crackdown on wealthy businessmen known as “oligarchs” in late 2021, before Russia invaded its neighbour last year.

Kolomoiskiy, who is from the central city of Dnipro and owns an array of assets including one of Ukraine’s most influential television channels, backed Zelenskiy’s election campaign in 2019.

Ukrainska Pravda, one of at least three outlets reporting the raid on Kolomoiskiy’s home, said the move related to an investigation into the alleged embezzlement of oil products and evasion of customs duties.

The search was carried out by officials from the SBU and the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine.

Shares in Indian tycoon Gautam Adani’s conglomerate plunged again on Wednesday as a rout in his companies deepened to $84 billion in the wake of a U.S. short-seller report, with the billionaire also losing his title as Asia’s richest person.

Wednesday’s stock losses saw Adani slip to 15th on Forbes rich list with an estimated net worth of $76.8 billion, below rival Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS) who ranks ninth with a net worth of $83.6 billion.

Before the critical report by U.S. short-seller Hindenburg, Adani had ranked third.

The losses mark a dramatic setback for Adani, the school-dropout-turned-billionaire whose business interests stretch from ports and airports to mining and cement. Now, the tycoon is fighting to stabilise his businesses and defend his reputation.

It comes just a day after the group managed to muster support from investors for a $2.5 billion share sale for flagship firm Adani Enterprises on Tuesday, in what some saw as a stamp of investor confidence.

The report by Hindenburg Research last week alleged improper use by the Adani Group of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation. It also raised concerns about high debt and the valuations of seven listed Adani companies.

The group has denied the allegations, saying the short-seller’s narrative of stock manipulation has “no basis” and stems from an ignorance of Indian law. It has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures, it added.

Shares in Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), often described as the incubator of Adani businesses, plunged 30% on Wednesday. Adani Power (ADAN.NS) fell 5%, while Adani Total Gas (ADAG.NS) slumped 10%, down by its daily price limit.

Adani Transmission (ADAI.NS) was down 6% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) dropped 20%.

Adani Total Gas, a joint venture with France’s Total (TTEF.PA), has been the biggest casualty of the short seller report, losing about $27 billion.

“There was a slight bounce yesterday after the share sale went through, after seeming improbable at a point, but now the weak market sentiment has become visible again after the bombshell Hindenburg report,” said Ambareesh Baliga, a Mumbai-based independent market analyst.

“With the stocks down despite Adani’s rebuttal, it clearly shows some damage on investor sentiment. It will take a while to stabilise,” Baliga added.

Underscoring the nervousness in some quarters, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) had stopped accepting bonds of Adani group companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients.

Deven Choksey, managing director of KRChoksey Shares and Securities, said this was a big factor in Wednesday’s share slides.

Credit Suisse had no immediate comment.

Scrutiny of the conglomerate is stepping up, with an Australian regulator saying on Wednesday it would review Hindenburg’s allegations to see if further enquiries were warranted.

Data also showed that foreign investors sold a net $1.5 billion worth of Indian equities after the Hindenburg report – the biggest outflow over four consecutive days since Sept. 30.

Headaches for the Adani Group are expected to continue for some time.

India’s markets regulator, which has been looking into deals by the conglomerate, has said it will add Hindenburg’s report to its own preliminary investigation.

State-run Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) (LIFI.NS)said on Monday it would seek clarifications from Adani’s management on the short seller report. The insurance giant was, however, a key investor in the Adani Enterprises share sale.

Hindenburg said in its report it had shorted U.S.-bonds and non-India traded derivatives of the Adani Group.

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Tim Levin/Insider

• Tesla and Ford are battling for market share by dropping their electric car prices.
• Other automakers like GM and Volkswagen say they won’t engage in that kind of price war.
• A pricing battle could accelerate EV adoption, but automakers will have to sacrifice profits.

When Tesla dropped the prices of some of its most popular models in early January, the news shocked the industry. It goosed demand for Teslas and threatened rivals already trying to catch up to Elon Musk’s market share.

Ford went next, lowering the price of its Model Y competitor, the Mustang Mach-E, by up to $5,900.

Other automakers are holding steady: General Motors and Volkswagen executives have recently said they don’t plan to drop prices for their EVs. 

Even without full participation, a pricing battle might be good for the auto industry’s $1.2 trillion push into electrification through 2030 — and for the folks supposed to buy all those battery-powered cars. 

“Anytime you have competition in the space,” said Ed Egilinsky, managing director at financial products firm Direxion, “that could represent some pricing pressures which is not as great for the automakers, in the short term as much as it is for, potentially, the consumer.”

GM doesn’t plan to participate in the price war and drop the cost of its EVs, like the Cadillac Lyriq.

Wade Payne for General Motors

With cheaper EVs come cheaper EVs

Despite automakers’ efforts to lower costs, EVs are too expensive for most people, selling for an average of $61,448 in December, per Kelley Blue Book. 

Today’s pricing war (coupled with new federal EV tax credits) could boost demand, helping automakers to boost volume, further helping with cost. 

“Scale will contribute towards parity in price,” said Steve Patton, EY Americas mobility sector leader. “We need to build more EVs and batteries before we get the prices down.”

This week, both Ford and GM mentioned plans to up EV production this year, though Ford is more ambitious than GM. More demand brought on by price cuts could accelerate those plans. 

“Scale ultimately is what’s going to drive down those costs,” Ben Prochazka, executive director of the Electrification Coalition, told Insider early January. “That’s what’s going to make it so that this is a market that becomes accessible to everyone.”

Ford’s recent Mach-E price cuts mean the company will deprioritize profitability, for now.

Photo provided by Ford Motor Co.

The problem lies in profitability

But Tesla and Ford’s price cuts mean they’ll deprioritize profitability for the time being, and that worries industry analysts. 

The cuts “highlight the conundrum facing automakers of improving the profitability of electric vehicles by increasing production volumes in a competitive marketplace,” Rene Lipsch, Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer, said in a statement. 

The cuts also could “prolong Ford’s timeframe for a meaningful contribution from its electric vehicle offering to profitability,” Lipsch added, “and underlines the need to reduce vehicle costs through lower battery costs and manufacturing efficiencies, in addition to higher production rates.”

Bank of America analysts called the automakers’ moves “odd” in a Monday note.

Both companies “are citing demand that exceeds supply, which means that cutting prices would be a direct hit to the bottom line today and unnecessarily degrades future earnings power,” the note said. “The current EV price cuts appear to defy logic… This will make the unprofitable low-return EV business that much more challenging until massive scale is achieved.”

Consumers are unlikely to be so upset, as they stand to benefit at the automakers’ expense, Garrett Nelson, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, told Insider via email.

“We view the price war as being good for consumers and it should help with overall EV sales and adoption,” Nelson said. “We don’t think it will be a good thing for automakers because it will further pressure margins on EVs.” 

Maskot/Getty Images

• Maryland lawmakers introduced a bill that would incentivize employers to adopt a four-day work week.
• Employers who participate will receive a tax credit, and employee pay will remain the same.
• Delegate Vaughn Stewart, a sponsor of the bill, said it will increase work morale and productivity.

The state of Maryland is pushing for a shorter work week. 

Earlier this month, Maryland lawmakers introduced a bill that will “promote, incentivize, and support the experimentation and study of the use of a 4-day workweek,” according to the proposed bill. 

Under the Four-Day Workweek Act of 2023, employers would cut their employees’ weekly work hours from 40 hours to 32 hours without reducing their pay or benefits. In return, employers would receive a tax credit.  The Maryland Department of Labor would give out up to $750,000 in tax credits every year. 

The bill would apply to public and private employers with at least 30 employees from all industries. Employers that choose to participate in the program would do so for up two years until it ends in 2028.

The new bill comes as stressed-out employees grapple with how to maintain a healthy work-life balance amid changing workplace norms. 

Maryland delegate Vaughn Stewart, the primary sponsor of the bill, told Insider that the research on the benefits of a four-day work week looks promising.

Stewart said that the program was inspired by a 2022 experiment conducted by nonprofit 4 Day Week Global. As part of the experiment, nearly 1,000 employees at 33 different companies worked four-day weeks for six months. Employees that participated noticed an increase in productivity and a decrease in burnout, whereas employers saw an 8% spike in overall revenue during that time frame.  

“I really think we’re on the verge of a win-win scenario here,” Stewart told Insider. “We can provide a higher quality of life, more free time for workers in Maryland, while at the same time not hurting the bottom line of businesses and maybe even increasing their profitability.”

Employers and employees are beginning to see the benefits of a shorter work week

American workers are expressing interest in a shorter work week. A 2022 Qualtrics study found that 92% of 1,021 full-time US employees surveyed were in favor of their employers cutting a work day. 

And the arrangement is beginning to become more common: One hundred companies in the United Kingdom have committed to issuing permanent four-day work weeks for employees without cutting pay, The Guardian reported.

Companies outside of the UK that have experimented with a shorter work week also said that they have seen their profits and productivity jump as a result.

Kickstarter, Unilever, Shopify, and even Shake Shack have experimented with 32-hour work weeks.

Even though Stewart has seen an “explosion of interest” in the bill from Maryland voters and his colleagues, he anticipates some challenges in getting the bill passed, including how the government will fund the tax credit incentives. 

“This bill is neither a slam dunk, nor is it dead on arrival,” Stewart said. “I am cautiously optimistic about the bill’s prospects, but we are gonna have to get a decent chunk of money.” 

While Stewart, a Democrat, thinks that his bill will be “popular across the economic spectrum,” he said that there may be disagreement along party lines which could potentially delay the bill from being passed. 

“I’m sure that Democrats are gonna be more likely to support it than Republicans,” he said. 

The state of Maryland plans to hold hearings on the bill in February. If it’s passed, the program will begin on July 1.

More states may adopt similar policies in the future

Maryland isn’t the only government entity looking to cut work hours. California and national law makers have introduced similar bills to shorten the work week, though they have stalled and failed, respectively. 

But given the “extremely persuasive” findings from the 4 Day Week Global study, Stewart believes that its only a matter of time before other states try to adopt measures to shorten the work week.

“I think that you’re going to see more and more states, including New York, put these types of bills in because I really think this is the way of the future,” he said. “I think the question is not if, but when America is going to move to a shorter work week.”

Warner Bros. Discovery

• DC Studios announced the first wave of movies and TV shows for the new DC universe.
• It features a strange mix of well-known characters and those you may not have heard of.
• There are also aspects of the old DC movie universe — but it still shows promise.

An animated monster series. New Superman and Batman movies. A Wonder Woman spinoff show.

These are a few of the projects DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran announced on Tuesday as part of the first wave of content for their new, connected DC universe.

The slate, titled “Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters,” is, to put it plainly, bizarre — and even a bit risky.

It features a mix of well-known characters, like Superman and Batman, as well as ones who only diehard comic-book readers may recognize, like the antihero team The Authority, celebrity-superhero Booster Gold, and Swamp Thing, who recently starred in a one-season TV series and will now get his own horror movie.

Safran told a small group of journalists that one of the slate’s goals is “to build those lesser known properties into the diamond properties of tomorrow.”

In that way, Chapter 1 is similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has made household names out of formerly B- and C-list characters, like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man. But the MCU didn’t launch with those characters out of the gate.

And Gunn stressed that the new DC universe is not “Marvel 2.0.” If anything, it’s still a bit of the old DC Extended Universe.

Amazons from “Wonder Woman” (2017).

Warner Bros. Movies

Not everything from the old DCEU is being scrapped

After WarnerMedia and Discovery merged last year to form Warner Bros. Discovery, one of the new company’s first priorities was to get DC movies on the right track after a largely unsuccessful attempt at a cinematic universe. That old ‘DCEU’ included critical and financial flops like director Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Justice League.” 

Gunn and Safran, who were put in charge of DC Studios in October, have scrapped much of that universe. Henry Cavill’s Superman, for example, is being replaced by a younger version of the character who will appear in “Superman: Legacy,” which is being written by Gunn and is set to hit theaters in 2025.

But some aspects of the old DCEU will remain intact. Gunn and Safran announced “Waller,” a “Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker” TV spinoff with Viola Davis reprising her role of Amanda Waller. And the TV series “Paradise Lost,” set on the island Themyscira, will be a prequel to the “Wonder Woman” movies — after a third film was scrapped.

Additionally, four DC movies will be released this year that were greenlit before Gunn and Safran came on board, including “The Flash,” starring controversial actor Ezra Miller.

None of those characters — which also include Shazam, Aquaman, and Blue Beetle — were mentioned in Gunn and Safran’s Chapter 1 plans, though they acknowledged that the actors may be included in future projects.

This isn’t to mention characters like Robert Pattinson’s Batman, who will live on under the DC Elseworlds banner, which includes projects that exist outside of the universe Gunn and Safran are building. The “Joker” sequel will also fall under this label.

The “Batman and Robin” comic by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.

DC Comics/Frank Quitely

It’s weird and a bit confusing, but the new plan shows promise

But once you get past the initial confusion of the multiple stages and universes, it’s clear that Gunn and Safran have a plan — and that there is promise.

If Gunn and Safran wanted to keep any aspects of the old DC movie universe, they picked the right ones. Gunn’s 2021 movie  “The Suicide Squad” and last year’s HBO Max series “Peacemaker” were critically praised and improved on the original 2016 “Suicide Squad” movie. And the first “Wonder Woman” is still the best-reviewed of the DCEU, and earned over $800 million at the global box office. 

They also seem to be taking inspiration from highly regarded comic stories. For example, writer Grant Morrison and artist Andy Kubert’s “Batman and Son” will be the template for the movie “The Brave and the Bold,” which is set to introduce a new Batman.

Gunn also promised that the projects would have “the individual expression of the writers and the director that are making those projects.” 

One thing is certain: The expectations are sky-high.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

• Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is planning to run for president in 2024.
• That would pit her against former President Donald Trump, whom she previously said she’d back.
• The GOP star served six terms in state office before becoming the ambassador to the UN.

Nikki Haley plans to announce a 2024 presidential run on February 15, a spokesperson confirmed to Insider.Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) speaks during a campaign event for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin (L) (R-VA) July 14, 2021 in McLean, Virginia. Youngkin is running against former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Win McNamee/Getty Image

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley plans to run for president in 2024 and is set to announce her bid on February 15 in Charleston, reported The Post and Courier.

Her communications director told Insider’s Cheryl Teh on Tuesday evening that The Post and Courier’s reporting is “accurate.”

Haley’s coming announcement would make her the second Republican to declare their bid for the White House, after former President Donald Trump announced his run in November.

It would also come after Haley said in 2021 that she would back Trump again and wouldn’t challenge her former boss in a 2024 race.

But Haley has been hinting at a presidential run in recent weeks, saying she could potentially be America’s new leader while speaking in a January interview on Fox News.

“Yes, we need to go in a new direction,” Haley said. “And can I be that leader? Yes. I think I can be that leader.”

On the other hand, Trump has said “it would be very disloyal” if Haley, who served as the US ambassador to the UN under him, ran against him.

A representative for Haley did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment for this story.

Haley started her career in commerce and accounting before she moved into politics.Rep. Nikki Haley with her family after winning the GOP vote in the gubernatorial primary for South Carolina, on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

Rich Glickstein/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in 1972 in Bamberg, South Carolina, to two immigrants from Punjab, India.

Her father, a professor at Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother, who earned a law degree in India, moved to South Carolina in 1969, where they both had extensive teaching careers at local institutions.

Haley’s mother also started a gift and clothing boutique, Exotica International, in 1979, per South Carolina daily The Times and Democrat. 

When she was 13, Haley started helping with accounting at Exotica, and later returned to the company as chief financial officer after she graduated from Clemson University, per the Seattle Times. 

From 1998 to 2004, Haley was named as a board member of the chambers of commerce in Orangeburg County and Lexington, as well as the president of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Haley is married to National Guardsman Michael Haley, who served as an officer in Afghanistan. They have a daughter, Rena, and a son, Nalin.

In 2004, she was elected to South Carolina’s House of Representatives, where she served three terms.Nikki Haley as South Carolina State Representative for the state’s 87th district in 2009.

Tim Dominick/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Haley came in second in the primaries when she initially ran for South Carolina’s House of Representatives in 2004, but won in a runoff after her incumbent opponent, Larry Koon, couldn’t secure a majority. She ran uncontested in the general election afterward.

During her first term, Haley was elected as the chair of the freshman caucus and later became majority whip in the state’s general assembly.

Serving three terms in total, she pushed to lower taxes and education reform, according to her voting history.

Haley made history as South Carolina’s first female governor in 2011.South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, surrounded by three former governors, some family members of the slain nine and many legislators, signs the bill to remove the Confederate flag.

Tim Dominick/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Haley was elected the governor of South Carolina in 2010 with endorsements from former presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

At 32, she was the youngest governor in the country when she took office in January 2011, and made history as South Carolina’s first female governor. She was also the state’s first Asian-American governor, and would go on to serve three terms in total.

As governor, Haley pledged to crack down on illegal immigration in South Carolina, signing a bill that required police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop and suspect of being in the US illegally.

She also signed a state law in 2016 banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Haley made national headlines in 2015 after she visibly choked up in her response to the Charleston shooting, in which nine African Americans at a Bible study were shot dead by a white supremacist.

The then-governor called for the confederate flag to be removed from state capitol grounds.

“This flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state,” she said at the time, signing a law to remove the battle flag shortly after.

As the Black Lives Matter movement grew in 2015, Haley also spoke out against what she said was a “shameful” image problem with minority voters in the GOP. “The problem for our party is that our approach often appears cold and unwelcoming to minorities,” she said.

Haley later was criticized for saying in 2019 that the confederate flag was seen in South Carolina as a symbol of “service, sacrifice, and heritage,” and that the Charleston shooter had hijacked its meaning. She tweeted at the time that her comment had been mischaracterized.

She was appointed as the US ambassador to the United Nations by Trump in 2016.Nikki Haley, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN during a Security Council Meeting.

Luiz Rampelotto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In January 2017, then-President Donald Trump nominated Haley to become the US ambassador to the United Nations. 

CNN reported that Haley had originally been considered for Secretary of State, but that she declined Trump’s offer, telling him he could “find someone better.”

As the ambassador to the UN, Haley kept in line with Trump’s pro-Israel stance, backing his bid to withhold food aid to Palestine in 2018 and warning other countries not to condemn his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

She was also tough on North Korea and Russia, playing a vocal role in UN sanctions against Kim Jong Un’s regime and later accusing Moscow of covering up violations of those sanctions.

Haley stepped down as ambassador four weeks before the 2018 November midterms, surprising some White House officials, CNN reported.

However, Trump said Haley had informed him six months earlier of her intention to “take a break” and resign. He praised Haley in his remarks, saying she “has been very special to me” and lauding her as “somebody that gets it.”

Haley’s political relationship with Trump has historically been tumultuous at best.US President Donald Trump announces that he has accepted the resignation of Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to the United Nations, in the Oval Office on October 9, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump said that Haley will leave her post by the end of the year.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Haley’s history with Trump, however, has not been so smooth.

When she endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in 2016 against then-GOP frontrunner Trump for the White House, he tweeted that the people of South Carolina were “embarrassed” by her.

“Bless your heart,” she tweeted in response.

Haley slammed Trump at a Rubio campaign event, saying she would “not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK.”

“That is not a part of our party, that’s not who we want as president, we will not allow that in our country,” she said then.

When Rubio dropped out of the race, Haley voiced support for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. After  Trump later won the GOP nomination, she said she would vote for him, but that she was “not a fan.”

While she initially criticized Trump’s 2015 proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US, calling it “unconstitutional” and “just wrong,” Haley in 2017 defended his decision to block travelers from six Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, saying it wasn’t an outright Muslim ban.

“What the president is doing, everybody needs to realize that what he’s doing is saying: ‘Let’s take a step back. Let’s temporarily pause,'” she said.

After the January 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol, Haley said she felt Trump had “let us down.”

“He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again,” she told Politico.

In particular, she vehemently disapproved of how Trump failed to protect his former vice president, Mike Pence, telling Politico she was “so triggered” by his words against Pence that she had to turn off her TV.

“When I tell you I’m angry, it’s an understatement,” said, per the outlet.

A month after the riots, Haley wrote in an opinion article for the Wall Street Journal that she believed Trump’s policies made the US “stronger, safer, and more prosperous,” but that she still judged him for his actions after the election.

Meanwhile, Trump has appeared less perturbed by rumors of Haley’s 2024 run than he has by the looming threat of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bid. DeSantis has not declared his run yet, but he has hinted that he might.

Trump said Haley had called him to discuss her potential run, and said she “should do it,” per CNN.

“I talked to her for a little while, I said: ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,'” he said.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.