United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday pushed back against the White House, saying she was not confused when she made an announcement on Sunday about the White House imposing new sanctions on Russia.
Earlier in the day, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that Haley "got ahead of the curve" on her announcement to impose sanctions on Russia, according to the New York Times.
"She’s done a great job. She’s a very effective ambassador, but there might have been some momentary confusion about that," Kudlow said.
Haley pushed back against Kudlow's comments by telling Dana Perino of Fox News that "With all due respect, I don’t get confused."
The episode was a rare public glimpse of a squabble inside an administration that is rife with them, and Mr. Kudlow moved quickly to try to defuse the conflict.
Shortly after Ms. Haley’s tart retort was read on the air, Mr. Kudlow told The New York Times, he spoke with her by telephone and apologized for his remark, saying he had misspoken based on incomplete information.
"She was certainly not confused," Mr. Kudlow said in a brief interview. "I was wrong to say that — totally wrong."
"As it turns out, she was basically following what she thought was policy," Kudlow added. "The policy was changed and she wasn’t told about it, so she was in a box."
Haley appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday where she said the Trump administration was preparing new sanctions on Russia over its continued support of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad. She said sanctions would be announced Monday by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a decision that would later be reversed because President Donald Trump was reportedly uncomfortable executing them following a meeting with national security advisers.
"They will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use," Haley said.