WORST REX HE EVER HAD
Trump fires sec. of state
The reality-show presidency continued yesterday, as President Trump voted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson off the island — via tweet — after they clashed over numerous foreign-policy strategies.
President Trump unceremoniously dumped Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday — via Twitter — and nominated CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him.
And when Tillerson’s State Department spokesman contradicted the White House’s account of events, the spokesman, too, was shown the door.
“Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!” Trump tweeted at 8:44 a.m. before leaving for a trip to California.
“We disagreed on things,” Trump later said of Tillerson, who once called him a “moron” and often clashed with the president on policy.
Trump admitted he didn’t consult his top diplomat, who was visiting US allies in Africa, before firing him.
“I really didn’t discuss it very much with him, honestly. I made that decision by myself. You know, Rex wasn’t in this country,” Trump said as he prepared to board Marine One.
Accounts of the shakeup were cloudy, but The Washington Post reported that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly alerted Tillerson on Saturday that his days were numbered and urged him to return to Washington from Africa as quickly as possible.
Tillerson cut short his five-day visit and arrived in DC on Tuesday.
When then-Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein said the former ExxonMobil CEO hadn’t heard from
Trump and “is unaware of the reason” for his ouster, Goldstein was fired within three hours.
Tillerson later said that Trump called him at about noon Tuesday from Air Force One.
The president told reporters that while he and Tillerson didn’t see eye to eye, especially over the Iran nuclear deal, he and Pompeo have a “similar thought process.”
“I’ve worked with Mike Pompeo now for quite some time. Tremendous energy, tremendous intellect, we’re always on the same wavelength,” Trump said.
“The relationship has been very good and that’s what I need as secretary of state.”
Trump wished Tillerson well and said, “I think he will be a lot happier now.”
The president wanted to remove Tillerson so he would have a new team in place as he prepares for his upcoming talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, Politico reported.
“I’m really at a point where we’re getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want,” Trump said.
Speaking at the State Department later Tuesday, Tillerson said he would stay on the job until March 31 to ensure a smooth transition.
He praised his colleagues in the State Department, his partners in the US intelligence community and members of the armed forces — but not Trump.
Tillerson is the latest high-level administration official to leave in the past two weeks — including economic adviser Gary Cohn, communicationsommunications director HopeHop Hicks and communications aide Josh Raffel.
Tillerson, who took over the State Department in February 2017, butted heads with Trump over numerous issues, including how to approach North Korea, the Paris Climate Accord and Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The tensions were exacerbated last July when Tillerson called Trump a “moron” in a Pentagon meeting with Cabinet officials and Trump’s own security team.
A day before his dismissal, Tillerson broke from the White House’s position when he said the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England earlier this month “clearly came from Russia” and will “trigger a response.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday called the attack “reckless, indiscriminate, and irresponsible” but didn’t mention Russia.