US State Department spent $52,701 on customised and mechanised curtains for Nikki Haley (File)
Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, on Thursday slammed The New York Times for publishing a wrong story about expensive curtains at her official residence despite knowing the facts.
Last week the The New York Times alleged that the US State Department spent about $52,701 last year on customised and mechanised curtains for the official residence of Ms Haley at a time when the department was undergoing deep budget cuts and had frozen hiring.
The report had said that Ms Haley is the first US ambassador to live in the residence, located in a new building just blocks away from the UN headquarters.
"I hadn't even taken the job when these curtains were picked out. And so, the idea that this came out, we told the reporters that these were the facts. They knew the facts and they released the story anyway," Ms Haley told Fox News in an interview on Thursday.
Ms Haley, 46, is the highest ranking Indian-American in the Donald Trump administration.
Ms Haley said that every where she went she was asked about the curtains.
"All last weekend, every day wherever I went, people were asking me about my curtains. The damage is done once the story is out. I appreciate the retraction but that story follows you everywhere you go. But that's the tough part about public life now," she said.
The original version of the story was titled "Nikki Haley's View of New York is Priceless. Her Curtains? USD52,701."
The daily later said that the headline and the story gave an incorrect impression.
"An earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question," the daily said a day later.
"The article should not have focused on Ms Haley, nor should a picture of her have been used," the New York Times said.
The headline was a later changed to "State Department Spent USD52,701 on Curtains for Nikki Haley's Residence."