Tillerson: I had to tell Trump what he wanted was not legal
Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson says he had to inform President Donald Trump that actions he requested from him were not legal, as he also called the US leader “pretty undisciplined”.
“So often the president would say ‘Here’s what I want to do’ and ‘Here’s how I want to do it’, and I would have to say to him, ‘Mr president I understand what you want to do but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law’,” Tillerson said on Thursday at a fundraiser.
Tillerson was speaking in Texas, in his first public appearance in almost nine months, after the president effectively fired him.
The former secretary and ExxonMobil chief executive’s remarks were reported by broadcaster CBS and the Houston Chronicle yesterday.
Tillerson confirmed that he believes Russia did try to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, to undermine confidence.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “very calculating” and he “plays threedimensional chess”.
He also spoke of his difficult relationship with Trump, whom he never met until he was hired, and concerns about voters.
“I will be honest with you, it troubles me that the American people seem to want to know so little about issues, that they are satisfied with 128 characters,” Tillerson said, referring to Twitter.
Tillerson insisted this was not a criticism of Trump.