Trump considering Tillerson ouster: US officials

US President Donald Trump is considering a plan to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whose relationship has been strained by the top US diplomat’s softer line on North Korea and other differences, senior administration officials said on Thursday.

Tillerson would be replaced within weeks by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Trump loyalist and foreign policy hard-liner, under a White House plan to carry out the most significant staff shake-up so far of the Trump administration.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in Congress, would be tapped to replace Pompeo at the CIA, the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately clear whether Trump had given final approval to the reshuffle, but one of the officials said the president asked for the plan to be put together.

Tillerson’s departure would end a troubled tenure for the former Exxon Mobil Corp chief executive, who has been increasingly at odds with Trump over issues such as North Korea and under fire for planned cuts at the State Department.

Tillerson was reported in October to have privately called Trump a “moron,” something that the secretary of state sought to dismiss.

That followed a tweet by Trump that Tillerson should not waste his time by seeking negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear and missile program, widely seen as a sign of the secretary of state being marginalized.

Trump has soured on Tillerson mostly because of the “moron” report, his less confrontational approach on North Korea and differences over the Qatar crisis, one senior US official said.