Nikki Haley is resigning as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, jolting the foreign policy world and President Donald Trump’s team just weeks before the midterm elections.

Haley, one of the most respected members of Trump’s Cabinet on the international front, said Tuesday that she will stay in the role until the end of the year. She also said she did not plan to run for president against Trump in 2020, downplaying the intense buzz about her political future.

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Her plans to quit were closely held and a genuine shock to the U.N. community as well as other Republicans, although some have said in recent months that she appeared to have less room to maneuver in the role since John Bolton took over as Trump’s national security adviser.

Trump said he may name a new U.N. envoy in less than three weeks; speculation quickly swirled around who that might be, with some predicting — with little evidence — that Trump may pick his daughter, Ivanka, or son-in-law, Jared Kushner, both of whom advise him in the White House.

During a news conference alongside Haley in the Oval Office, Trump heavily praised her, saying she’s “done an incredible job” and is “a fantastic person.”

“We’re all happy for you in one way, but we hate to lose you,” Trump told Haley. “Hopefully you’ll be coming back at some point, but maybe in a different capacity. You can have your pick.”

Trump said that Haley informed him about six months ago that she would want to “take a break” at the end of her first two years. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, was an early critic of then-candidate Trump before joining his administration. She turned down his offer to be secretary of state, on grounds that she lacked enough foreign policy experience. Instead she became the U.N. envoy, which Trump included in his Cabinet.

As to why she’s leaving now, Haley said that she wants Trump to have “the strongest person to fight” and that she believes “it’s good to rotate in other people who can put that same energy and power into it.”

“It has been an honor of a lifetime,” she said. “You know, I said I am such a lucky girl to have been able to lead the state that raised me and to serve a country I love so very much. It has really been a blessing and I want to thank you for that.”

In her resignation letter, Haley told Trump she “will surely not be a candidate for any office in 2020.” She also hinted strongly that she’ll join the private sector. “As a businessman,” she wrote to Trump, “I expect you will appreciate my sense that returning from government to the private sector is not a step down but a step up.”

Haley has been a forceful presence at the United Nations, maintaining the respect of fellow delegates to the world body even as she took steps that were deeply unpopular on the international stage.

She oversaw the U.S. decision to quit the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying it was too biased against Israel and too loaded with members with spotty human rights records. She has also pushed through policies that have been highly unfavorable to Palestinians, including stopping U.S. funding of the main U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees.

Many of her moves — including her vocal support for Israel — have been seen among U.N. officials as possible efforts to burnish her Republican credentials. Haley, who is of Indian descent, is considered a strong potential future GOP presidential candidate.

Still, from the start, other nations have looked to Haley as a clear voice articulating U.S. foreign policy. In particular, Haley drew a lot of attention during Trump’s first year in office because then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — who did not get along with her — avoided the spotlight.

Haley also has been a steady voice as opposed to Trump, who can be mercurial in his views on foreign policy. And at times Haley has placed daylight between herself and Trump. She’s been much more forceful in her criticism of Russia, for instance.

At one point, when a Trump adviser chided her for message “confusion” when she announced sanctions on Russia before the president made his final decision, Haley shot back: “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.”

Haley also was a critical player in laying the groundwork for Trump’s decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal, defending that choice at every turn despite intense international criticism.

Overall, Haley has stayed in Trump’s good graces even as others have fallen out, which was why so many people were surprised to hear she’s leaving. Being based hours away in New York may have helped. Haley said in April that her relationship with Trump was “perfect.” Last month, she wrote a column slamming an anonymous senior Trump administration official who’d written an op-ed for The New York Times that criticized Trump.

Also last month, Haley carefully prepared the scene for Trump’s second visit to the annual gathering of the U.N. General Assembly. The event did not go smoothly — Trump drew rebukes for his Iran policy and laughs for his boastful claims of success during his speech to the General Assembly. But there were no complaints aimed at Haley in the aftermath.

In recent months, as others have joined Trump’s team, U.N. diplomats have wondered about how much sway Haley continues to hold in the administration.

Mike Pompeo succeeded Tillerson as secretary of state in late April. While he is believed to get along well with Haley, he’s also less willing to cede the spotlight to her than Tillerson. The arrival that same month of Bolton as Trump’s national security adviser also appears to have affected the dynamic.

Bolton is a former ambassador to the United Nations with a well-known disdain for such international institutions. In September, Bolton announced that the United States would no longer engage in any way with the International Criminal Court.

“Her public role seems more limited” since Bolton and Pompeo took on their foreign policy portfolios, a longtime U.N. diplomat told POLITICO in recent weeks.

But a State Department official said Haley had offered no hints that she didn’t get along with either Bolton or Pompeo.

In brief remarks outside the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Pompeo thanked Haley for her service. “She’s been a great partner of mine for now five months that she and I have been working together,” he said.

The State Department official also said Haley had earned widespread respect among career U.S. staffers, and that many were angling to land a spot at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

“Everyone was totally blindsided” by her decision to quit, the official said. “People were dying to work for her.”

“People are sad,” added a staffer at the U.S. mission in New York.

Now a major question is who will fill Haley’s shoes. Speculation that it could be either Kushner or his wife, Ivanka Trump, grew when Haley praised both of them in her remarks Tuesday.

“I can’t say enough good things about Jared and Ivanka,” Haley said during Tuesday’s news conference. “Jared is such a hidden genius that no one understands. … And Ivanka has been just a great friend, and they do a lot of things behind the scenes that I wish more people knew about, because we’re a better country because they’re in this administration.”

Others floated Dina Powell, a former deputy national security adviser during Trump’s first year as a potential successor to Haley. Powell is currently a top official at Goldman Sachs.

Other potential Haley successors include: Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, who previously served as a spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N.; and Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

Alongside Trump, Haley also said that in the two years she has served as ambassador, the U.S. is now “respected” even if some “countries may not like what we do.” She also said the “U.S. is strong again.”

“I’m not running for 2020,” she added, quelling rumblings that she might try to defeat Trump for the GOP presidential nomination. In fact, she gestured to Trump and said: “I can promise you what I’ll be doing is campaigning for this one. So I look forward to supporting the president in the next election.”

Analysts said even if Haley doesn’t run for any office in 2020, leaving now still makes sense politically.

“The U.N. ambassador job is a fantastic political springboard — it offers a lot of opportunity to call out U.S. enemies and no requirement to speak with distasteful people, and in her case, it gave her foreign policy credentials that she didn’t have,” said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He added: “What would she have gotten for serving two more years? Diminishing returns had set in.”

Haley is also reported to be in significant debt, so she may use the next few years to earn some money in the private sector. The announcement of Haley’s departure also came a day after a watchdog group called on the State Department to investigate Haley’s decision to accept seven free flights for herself and her husband on private planes owned by three South Carolina businessmen. The group raised questions about Haley’s use of the flights and the manner in which she described them in her public disclosure forms.

Several U.S. lawmakers from both parties commended Haley’s tenure as U.N. ambassador.

“Ambassador @nikkihaley has done an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the United Nations and showed a level of effectiveness rarely seen by someone in this position,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said Haley “has been a clear, consistent, and powerful voice for America’s interests and democratic principles on the world stage. She challenged friend and foe to be better.”

And Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thanked Haley for “her willingness to express moral clarity to the world and to President Trump, and promote American values and leadership on the global stage.”

Adam Behsudi contributed to this report.

AXIOS’ JONATHAN SWAN SCOOP: “Trump has accepted Nikki Haley’s resignation”: “President Trump has accepted Nikki Haley’s resignation as UN Ambassador, the two said Tuesday morning in a public Oval Office meeting. She will exit at the end of the year, Trump said. … Haley discussed her resignation with Trump last week when she visited him at the White House, two sources said. Her news shocked a number of senior foreign policy officials in the Trump administration.” Axios

TRUMP AND HALEY IN THE OVAL OFFICE … TRUMP said HALEY had done a “fantastic job” and signaled he would welcome her back: “We’re all happy for you in one way, but we hate to lose you. Hopefully you’ll be coming back at some point — maybe a different capacity, you can have your pick.”

— Offering a reason for her departure, HALEY said: “I’m a believer in term limits. I think you have to be selfless enough to know when you step aside and allow someone else to do the job.”

— HALEY continued, pre-empting expected questions: “No, I am not running in 2020. What I can promise you is that I’ll be campaigning for this one,” pointing to Trump. “I look forward to supporting the president.”

— HALEY also gave effusive praise for JARED KUSHNER, calling him a “hidden genius that no one understands,” and said she wished more people recognized the work he and IVANKA TRUMP do behind the scenes. “We’re a better country because they’re in this administration.”

— TRUMP on potential replacements: “We have a number of people who would very much like to do it. It’s a great position … I think it’s become maybe a more glamorous position than it was two years ago.” He added that a successor would be named within “two or three weeks.” More from Eliana Johnson and Rebecca Morin

— HALEY’S RESIGNATION LETTER was obtained by the WaPo. The letter … Key quote: “I will surely not be a candidate for any office in 2020.”

NIKKI HALEY’S FINANCES: She has two bank accounts with between $16,000 and $65,000 in cash. Her husband made between $50,000 and $100,000 from properties worth between $500,000 and $1 million. DEBT: Between $1.525 million and $2.065 million.

TEA LEAF READING … WAPO’S JOHN HUDSON (@john_hudson): “Haley had an increasingly diminished role as Pompeo filled the Tillerson vacuum, Bolton asserted himself on UN issues, and the US began withdrawing from key UN institutions/programs, chipping away at her clout.” … “Haley’s influence at UN was blunted by Trump policy decisions that many other nations opposed, including recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, cutting aid to Palestinians and announcing a U.S. withdrawal from the U.N. HR Council. Notably, Haley *supported* those moves.”

Good Tuesday afternoon. ANTHONY FOXX is joining Lyft as chief policy officer and adviser. He was the Transportation secretary under Barack Obama.

NEW TRUMP SUPER PAC ADS … AMERICA FIRST ACTION is spending $1.36 MILLION in Missouri, knocking Sen. Claire McCaskill for supporting an “energy tax.” The last line of the ad: “I bet Claire McCaskill’s private plane is warm.” The 30-second spot … It is also spending $1.37 MILLION in Indiana, knocking Sen. Joe Donnelly for outsourcing. The 30-second spot

PYONGYANG TO PALM BEACH? … “Trump considers Mar-a-Lago for Kim summit,” by Matthew Choi: “‘I think the speed is amazing,’ Trump told reporters Tuesday at the White House. ‘You have no nuclear tests, no rockets. And we have a very good relationship with Chairman Kim. I like him, he likes me.’ Trump added that discussions are underway for a second summit and that both he and Kim would enjoy having one on his Mar-a-Lago property.” POLITICO

HEADS UP — THE WEATHER CHANNEL: “Hurricane Michael Intensifies to Category 2; May Be Florida Panhandle’s Strongest Landfall in 13 Years Wednesday”

WHAT’S ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND — @realDonaldTrump at 12 p.m.: “Hurricane on its way to the Florida Pan Handle with major elements arriving tomorrow. Could also hit, in later stage, parts of Georgia, and unfortunately North Carolina, and South Carolina, again… …Looks to be a Cat. 3 which is even more intense than Florence. Good news is, the folks in the Pan Handle can take care of anything. @FEMA and First Responders are ready — be prepared! #HurricaneMichael”

… at 12:07 p.m.: “FLORIDA — It is imperative that you heed the directions of your State and Local Officials. Please be prepared, be careful and be SAFE! #HurricaneMichael”

AP’S JESSICA GRESKO and MARK SHERMAN: “Court mood is jovial as Kavanaugh takes his place on bench”: “Brett Kavanaugh took the bench with his new Supreme Court colleagues for the first time Tuesday in a jovial atmosphere that was strikingly at odds with the tension and rancor surrounding his high court confirmation.

“The new justice dived into his new job, asking a handful of questions in the first arguments of the day following a traditional welcome from Chief Justice John Roberts, who wishing Kavanaugh ‘a long and happy career in our common calling.’” AP

THE BIG PICTURE — “Conservative-Dominated Supreme Court Fulfills Nixon-Era Dream,” by WSJ’s Jess Bravin: “Justice Kavanaugh is expected to provide a consistent vote to implement the conservative movement’s legal agenda in a range of areas where the Supreme Court has failed to produce ideologically consistent results, despite Republican presidents having appointed 14 of 18 justices since 1969.

“At minimum, a five-justice majority more sensitive to regulatory and litigation costs on business should tip more outcomes toward industry and employers … [T]he new majority is likely to show more sympathy for social conservatives resisting the encroachment of gay rights and access to contraceptives, as well as greater tolerance for state initiatives to curb the availability of abortion.

“What’s unclear, those experts say, is whether the new majority will act in degrees or represent an epochal change in American law, akin to the post-1937 court that secured the New Deal’s constitutional grounding or the civil-rights revolution that began with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.” WSJ

IMMIGRATION FILES — “AP investigation: Deported parents may lose kids to adoption,” by Garance Burke and Martha Mendoza: “Federal officials insist they are reuniting families and will continue to do so. But an Associated Press investigation drawing on hundreds of court documents, immigration records and interviews in the U.S. and Central America identified holes in the system that allow state court judges to grant custody of migrant children to American families — without notifying their parents.

“And today, with hundreds of those mothers and fathers deported thousands of miles away, the risk has grown exponentially. … [E]ach state court system, from New York to California, runs wardship and adoption proceedings differently — and sometimes there are even variations between counties.” AP

— “Migrant Children in Search of Justice: A 2-Year-Old’s Day in Immigration Court,” by Vivian Yee and Miriam Jordan: “[T]here are more children showing up more often to federal immigration courtrooms … at hearings that could determine whether they will be deported, reunited with their parents, or granted the asylum that their parents desperately want for them. They often sit at counsel tables alone, unaccompanied by any family and sometimes without even a lawyer.” NYT

THE DAILY BEAST’S KEVIN POULSEN and SPENCER ACKERMAN: “Researchers: No Evidence That Russia Is Messing With Campaign 2018—Yet”: “Russian social media trolls are, of course, still promulgating fake news and slapping frantically at America’s hot buttons … But so far, Russia-watchers say the trolls haven’t delved into the nitty gritty of 35 Senate campaigns and 435 House races. Nor has the GRU engineered the type of damaging email dumps that tent-posted the 2016 election circus. …

“[S]ince 2016 the GRU’s hackers have mostly gone back to their roots, conducting spying operations, and primarily focusing on Russia’s side of the Atlantic. … Of course, nobody is sounding the all-clear on the midterm election. Russia has an arsenal of disruption capabilities—previously deployed against Ukraine—that the Kremlin could conceivably train on the U.S. in an attempt to sow havoc on election day.” The Daily Beast

2018 WATCH … “The Hidden Money Funding the Midterms,” by Maggie Severns and ProPublica’s Derek Willis: “In total, super PACs have spent at least $21.6 million this cycle in 78 congressional races before disclosing who donated that money — $15.7 million of it during primary races. In many cases, that disclosure came after voters had gone to the polls. …

“[W]hile they can’t keep donors secret forever, super PACs are increasingly figuring out methods of temporarily masking donor identities that are either legal or fall into gray areas that rarely attract regulators’ attention.” POLITICO

— AP’S KEN THOMAS: “Sanders barnstorming country ahead of midterm elections”: “Sen. Bernie Sanders is embarking on a nine-state battleground tour on behalf of Democratic candidates competing in the November elections … The packed October schedule marks the Vermont independent’s most extensive stretch of campaigning since the 2016 presidential race. …

“Sanders is expected to make a decision on whether to launch another campaign in the coming months and the tour could inform his decision. It will allow him to test the durability of the left-leaning coalition he assembled in 2016 and build relationships with elected officials who could serve as allies should he run again.” AP

ON THE WORLD STAGE — JESUS RODRIGUEZ, “Turkey to search Saudi consulate for disappeared journalist Jamal Khashoggi”: “A probe Turkey launched into the case is now expanding with the cooperation of the Saudi government, which reportedly agreed to a search of its Istanbul consulate.” POLITICO

HMM … SPY GAMES — “Chinese prof in child porn case also under scrutiny for alleged espionage, say officials,” by NBC’s Tom Winter and Julia Ainsley in Houston: “Until April, Keping Xie, 55, was a gastroenterology professor at Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where the officials say the FBI is investigating a suspected effort to funnel advanced research from the facility to the Chinese government. …

“Four U.S. officials briefed on Chinese efforts to conduct economic espionage in the U.S. say Houston’s research, scientific, and oil and gas industries are a prime draw for Chinese spies. … Xie took part in China’s ‘Thousand Talents’ academic talent recruitment program, which is one of several talent programs managed by the Chinese government and linked by U.S. intelligence to espionage.” NBC

— NBC’S KEN DILANIAN: “China’s hackers are stealing secrets from U.S. firms again, experts say”: “CrowdStrike, other private firms and U.S. intelligence agencies all reported observing a drop-off in Chinese cyberespionage for purely economic purposes after September 2015, when President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to curb the practice. … But over the last year, as the Trump administration has taken an increasingly tough stand on what it considers unfair Chinese trade practices, thefts of intellectual property from U.S. companies by hacking groups linked to the Chinese government are on the rise.” NBC

FOR YOUR RADAR — BUZZFEED’S VERA BERGENGRUEN: “Today, for the first time in history, a young American can enlist to fight in a US war that started before he or she was born. … [T]he cost of the US ‘war on terror’ is being borne by an increasingly smaller number of families, isolated and unnoticed by the rest of the country. At the same time, the US military footprint across the globe has expanded rapidly.” BuzzFeed

AP’S RICHARD LARDNER: “Objections blunt momentum for foreign lobbying law overhaul”: “A push to give the Justice Department more enforcement authority over the lucrative and at times shadowy world of foreign lobbying is stalled amid opposition from pro-business groups, nonprofits and privacy advocates. …

“While there’s bipartisan support for cracking down on unregistered foreign agents, several of the changes proposed in congressional bills could backfire by sweeping in a host of unintended targets, according to critics. That pushback has effectively kept the legislation from advancing … One of the most contentious provisions would eliminate a popular loophole that permits lobbyists representing foreign commercial interests to be exempt from the law.” AP

MEDIAWATCH — Kevin Yamamura will be editor of POLITICO Pro’s new California vertical in Sacramento. He is currently assistant managing editor at The Sacramento Bee.

TRANSITIONS — Terry Neal is now EVP and managing director of public affairs at Burson Cohn and Wolfe. He most recently ran Neal Communication Strategies. … Ben Kochman is now a senior congressional affairs officer for the Department of Transportation. He previously was legislative director for Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas).

WEEKEND WEDDINGS — Russ Ferguson, a former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer and now a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson, married Claire Magee, corporate counsel at Raycom Media and a POLITICO and Allbritton alum. They met at Georgetown Law School. Ben Stein gave a scripture reading for the couple, who are now off to their honeymoon in Tahiti. Pic

— Adam Deutsch, foreign affairs officer at the State Department, married Samantha Ondrade, who just completed a clerkship at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The couple wed at Woodend Sanctuary in Chevy Chase, Md. Pic

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Randi Braun, director of new business at POLITICO, and Benjy Braun, managing consultant and data scientist for IBM and an alum of Deloitte and DoD, welcomed Theo Braun. Pic … Another pic

— Abby Gunderson-Schwarz, chief of staff for Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.), and Kenny Schwarz, who works at DOJ, welcomed Felicity Lois Gunderson-Schwarz, who came in at 8 lbs, 6 oz, 20.5 inches, and joins big sister Avonlea. Pic … Another pic

HAPPY 14TH ANNIVERSARY to Bret and Amy Baier. Instapic

BONUS BIRTHDAY: Allison Tucker, communications director for Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) (h/t Vince Zito)

• Anna Palmer @apalmerdc
• Jake Sherman @JakeSherman
• Daniel Lippman @dlippman
• Eli Okun @eliokun
• Garrett Ross @garrett_ross

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