Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley Resigning as U.S. Ambassador to U.N.

Why? That's anyone's guess.

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Lev Radin / Pacific Press/Newscom

Nikki Haley is stepping down as the United States ambassador to the United Nations.

Axios' Jonathan Swan was the first to report the news. According to Swan, Haley told Trump she wanted to resign during a conversation with him last week. Citing two sources with knowledge of their conversation, Swan said Trump accepted her resignation. The "news shocked a number of senior foreign policy officials in the Trump administration," Swan reported.

Swan's report was soon confirmed by Trump. Speaking from the Oval Office this morning, Trump told reporters that Haley would be leaving the administration "at the end of the year." Haley is a "very special" person, Trump said, adding that they "solved a lot of problems" together.

So why is Haley stepping down? No one seems to know. The former Republican governor of South Carolina has been known to clash with Trump's views on several issues. She admitted as much in a September op-ed for The Washington Post, but explained that she tries to talk to Trump when she disagrees with him. "If I disagree with something and believe it is important enough to raise with the president, I do it," she wrote at the time.

This post has been updated with President Trump's comments from the Oval Office confirming the Axios report.