Tillerson not quitting: US state dept EU slams sanctions imposed on Russia
Secretary of state took some time off after ‘megatrip overseas’
WASHINGTON:US secretary of state Rex Tillerson was back at work on Wednesday, with the state department dismissing rumours that he was planning to quit. The department said he was away from work to take some time off after a “mega-trip overseas”.
Tillerson was scheduled to receive visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to the state department’s schedule of engagements.
“The secretary has been very clear he intends to stay here at the state department. We have a lot of work that is left to be done ahead of us,” spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at the daily briefing on Tuesday.
She added Tillerson was “just taking a little time off” after returning from a “mega-trip overseas”.
CNN on Monday reported Tillerson might be planning to leave over his continuing policy and personnel problems with the White House and the way President Donald Trump has been recently treating senior cabinet colleague Jeff Sessions.
Trump’s public rebuke and tormenting of Sessions — the first Republican senator to back him as a presidential candidate — has reportedly worried other members of the cabinet.
The report, citing sources, had said Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil CEO, could leave by the end of the year after completing the reorganization of the state department — essentially after riding it of surplus staff.
Staffing problems have led to at least one heated exchange between Tillerson and director of presidential personnel, Johnny DeStefano, at the White House.
Tillerson has also been seen to be at odds with Trump on key foreign policy. Just hours after Tillerson made an appeal for an end to the blockade of Qatar in June, Trump came out against Qatar calling it a “funder of terrorism, and at a very high level”.
REPUBLICANS RALLY AROUND JEFF SESSIONS “Beleaguered” attorney general Jeff Sessions has found support among Republicans troubled by Trump’s continuing public and vicious attacks on him.
Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators have rallied behind Sessions in recent days, with senator Richard Shelby warning Trump that his firing “wouldn’t be well-received”.
Even Breitbart News Network, a strident supporter of Trump, has sided with the attorney general, saying, “Sessions has fought in the trenches for a tough line on immigration for years, back when Trump was pouring money into the campaign coffers of Democrats.” MOSCOW: Moscow and the European Union hit out at the US on Wednesday after an overwhelming vote by the House of Representatives to impose new sanctions on Russia left President Trump facing a tough call.
The package, which targets Russia, Iran and North Korea, “tightens the screws on our most dangerous adversaries in order to keep Americans safe,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said after it passed on Tuesday by 419 votes to three. It now heads to the Senate before Trump faces the tricky choice of whether to veto the bill, which has been opposed by the White House and considerably constrains his ability to lift the penalties.
While Moscow and Tehran raised the prospect of retaliation over any fresh punitive measures, the EU also warned it was “ready to act to protect European interests” if the legislation hit dealings with the Russian energy sector. The US bill was the result of a congressional compromise aimed at punishing the Kremlin for allegedly interfering in the 2016 US presidential election and intervening in Ukraine.
Key among the provisions is one that handcuffs Trump by complicating any unilateral efforts to ease santions against Moscow in future, effectively placing him under Congress’s watch.
“Left unchecked, Russia is sure to continue its aggression,” House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce said, applauding the bill’s backing.
Despite initially opposing the bill, Trump has few options in the face of near-total consensus in Congress, with a decision likely due in August.