Donald Trump's election has triggered a level of treachery that threatens the basis of our constitutional republic. The words "constitutional crisis" are bandied about too often, but this incident fits the bill all too well. Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is promoting her book that debuts tomorrow and gave an interview yesterday to CBS in which she revealed the shocking news that two senior appointees to the Trump White House were conspiring against him and attempted to enlist her in their cabal to seize his constitutional powers for themselves.

Fox News summarizes:



Grabien screen grab.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley blasted former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, recalling a private conversation where they defended resisting President Trump, telling her they did so out of necessity. Haley told "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell that she did not appreciate having the former officials confide in her, as she described in her new book, "With All Due Respect." "[I]nstead of saying that to me, they should've been saying that to the president, not asking me to join them on their sidebar plan," Haley said. Haley said that the two men "confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren't being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country" and how "Tillerson went on to tell me the reason he resisted the president's decisions was because, if he didn't, people would die...."

"Saving the country" is the excuse offered by virtually all coup-plotters when they override the established powers and install their own people in power. It is the logic of a banana republic. Haley responded entirely appropriately:

"It should've been, 'Go tell the president what your differences are, and quit if you don't like what he's doing,'" Haley told O'Donnell. "But to undermine a president is really a very dangerous thing. And it goes against the Constitution, and it goes against what the American people want. And it was offensive."

The entire interview is embedded below, but here is the key moment via Grabien:

Here is the entire interview: