Tillerson vows to stay on amid rift with Trump
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted on Wednesday that he has never considered resigning, despite what associates have described as deep frustration. But he did not deny a report that he has grown so disenchanted with President Trump that he once referred to him as a “moron.”
Just three days after Trump publicly undercut Tillerson by dismissing efforts to reach out to North Korea, the secretary of state abruptly summoned reporters to reaffirm his loyalty to the president and dispute a report by NBC News that he had been prepared to step down over the summer until counseled by Vice President Mike Pence.
“The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because I have never considered leaving this post,” Tillerson said. Pence separately denied the report.
But Tillerson did not contest other elements of the article, including an episode when he was said to have called Trump a “moron” after a meeting at the Pentagon with other national security officials last summer.
“I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that,” he replied when asked specifically if he had assigned that label to the president. But his spokeswoman later denied it on his behalf.
Even as Tillerson denied a rift on Wednesday, he alluded to significant differences over North Korea and Iran. He stressed the possibility of a peaceful resolution of the nuclear dispute with North Korea and associated himself with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who just a day earlier endorsed retaining the nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump has threatened to rip up. He praised Mattis as a “secretary of defense who embraces diplomacy” and noted that they speak nearly every day.
Tillerson said he had not spoken with Trump on Wednesday before making his statement but offered words of praise.
“President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda has given voice to millions who felt completely abandoned by the political status quo and who felt their interests came second to those of other countries,” he said. “President Trump’s foreign policy goals break the mold of what people traditionally think is achievable on behalf of our country.”