Trump considers dropping Tillerson as secretary of state.
The White House is readying a plan to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and install loyalists to President Trump in two top national security positions, laying the groundwork for another seismic personnel change in an already turbulent presidency, two administration officials confirmed Thursday.
The emerging strategy to stabilize the floundering State Department, which is under active consideration by the president and might change further, could have CIA Director Mike Pompeo replacing Tillerson and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., being elevated to succeed Pompeo.
The plan, first reported by The New York Times, was confirmed by the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the White House has not publicly announced any moves.
Pompeo has become one of themost personally loyal and politically savvy members of Trump’s national security team, while Cotton is one of Trump’s most steadfast congressional defenders and a confidant to national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other top officials.
For Tillerson, being forced out of the administration would represent a dramatic fall for the former ExxonMobil chief executive, who has struggled to transition from overseeing one of the world’s most powerful - and most secretive - corporations to managing a complex bureaucracy and serving a mercurial boss.
Tillerson’s anticipated departure could come as part of an exodus of administration officials at the oneyear mark of Trump’s presidency. There has long been speculation that a number of senior staffers who have had difficulties with Trump, including National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, could bolt in the new year.
The plan to remove Tillerson, which is being directed by White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, is expected to be set in motion over the next few weeks and has broad support within Trump’s inner circle, the officials said.
Through Trump’s relationship with Tillerson has soured in recent months, with the president privately bristling at and publicly undermining his secretary of state, it was unclear whether Trump had signed off on the plan. The president has been known to change his mind before fi- nalizing decisions with public announcements.
Asked during a meeting Thursday morning with the crown prince of Bahrain, Salman binHamad al-Khalifa, whether he wants Tillerson to remain as secretary of state, Trump told reporters simply: “He’s here. Rex is here.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, asked Thursday what he made of the reports on Tillerson, dismissed them. “I make nothing of it,” he told reporters. “There’s nothing to it.”
Rumblings of Tillerson’s possible ouster add yet another element of uncertainty for lawmakers on Capitol Hill and U. S. allies around the world already anxious about Trump’s combativeness and off-the-cuff comments and tweets, especially coming amid tumult at home and abroad.
Tensions between the United States and North Korea are escalating. Trump this week has also been feuding with British Prime Minister Theresa May over his Wednesday tweets sharing inflammatory and misleading antiIslam videos from the farright Britain First party, a group known for targeting Muslims.
Throughout the fall, Tillerson’s departure has been widely expected, given his rocky relationship with the president — he reportedly called Trump a “moron” after a meeting at the Pentagon — and his shrinking number of boosters inside the administration.
Trump has grown frustrated at negative news coverage of Tillerson and has taken to asking others about him, something he often does before cutting ties, according to one senior administration official and one adviser.
But while there is almost universal agreement within the West Wing that Tillerson’s days are numbered, the timing and circumstances of his exit — as well as his replacement - have not yet been finalized, officials said.