Report: Nikki Haley Has Up To $1 Million in Debt, Which May Explain Her Resignation

By Shane Ryan  |  October 9, 2018 | 2:35pm
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Report: Nikki Haley Has Up To $1 Million in Debt, Which May Explain Her Resignation
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Nikki Haley just stepped down as Donald Trump’s U.N. ambassador under somewhat mysterious circumstances, but a new report from the Charleston, SC Post and Courier might shed light on the surprise resignation. According to federal ethics reports, Haley has debt that possibly totals more than $1 million.

Here’s how it breaks down:

She owed $25,000 to $65,000 on two credit cards since 2016. She listed a mortgage and a line of credit each for $250,000 to $500,000. She listed ranges of debt and income on the disclosure records.

She claimed to have $1,000 to $15,000 in the bank and earned roughly $10,000 last year, including a month’s salary as governor before she was confirmed as ambassador. Her total does not include her salary at the U.N., which is about $180,000 a year.

The ambiguity in the exact amount stems from the fact that the ethics form only requires employees like Haley to fill out ranges, meaning that her total debt could fall anywhere between $525,00 and $1.1 million. Her annual salary with the U.N. was $180,000. Haley’s husband, who works for the South Carolina National Guard, also earned income from a shopping center he sold after a firm he runs bought it from Haley’s parents. This purchase apparently included a mortgage of more than $1 million on the property.

Haley’s parents, interestingly enough, are going through a foreclosure process on their own home after owing more than $700,000.

As the Post and Courier noted, Haley made note of the money she could make in the private sector in her resignation letter to Trump:

In her resignation letter to President Donald Trump, she wrote: “As a businessman I expect you will appreciate my sense that returning from government to the private sector is not a step down but a step up.”

So amid all the speculation about why Haley resigned, it might be as simple as a transition to a lucrative private sector career—in which she would command a seven-figure salary, according to CNN—that will help her contain her debt and perhaps help out her parents along the way.

 
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