Tilly’s tizzy on ‘Moron Don’
Lauds prez but doesn’t deny insult
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday refused to deny that he called President Trump a “moron” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon — and then lavishly praised the commander-in-chief and said he was “smart.”
“I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that,” he said with an air of disgust when asked if he had used the pejorative, which was first reported by NBC News.
Tillerson slammed the report as “petty nonsense.”
“This is what I don’t understand about Washington. I’m not from this place. But the places I come from, we don’t deal with that kind of petty nonsense. And it is intended to do nothing but divide people,” the former ExxonMobil chief said during a previously unscheduled news conference at the State Department.
Tillerson’s spokeswoman later said the NBC report was false, and Trump ripped the network on Twitter.
“The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!” he wrote after Tillerson’s remarks. But NBC wouldn’t back down. “NBC News will not be issuing an apology to America,” White House correspondent Hallie Jackson replied on the air.
Later, speaking in Las Vegas, the president said he was honored by Tillerson’s remarks — and again lashed out at the network.
“It was made up by NBC,” he claimed.
Tillerson also insisted he wasn’t going anywhere despite reports that he had threatened to resign.
“My commitment to the success of our president and our country is as strong as it was the day I accepted his offer to serve as secretary of state,” he said.
He denied that Vice President Mike Pence had to persuade him to remain, as NBC and others reported.
And Tillerson praised the president in glowing terms.
“He loves his country. He puts Americans and America first. He’s smart,” he said.
Tensions between Tillerson and Team Trump came to a boil around the time the president delivered a highly politicized address to the Boy Scouts of Amer- ica, a group Tillerson led for two years, NBC said.
A few days before the speech, Tillerson disparaged Trump as a “moron” during a meeting with his national security team and Cabinet members, according to NBC.
Tillerson threatened not to return to Washington — but backed down after speaking with retired Gen. John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, sources told the network.