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Thursday, October 5, 2017
Former ExxonMobil CEO and now US Secretary of State has reportedly referred to President Donald Trump as a moron, according to numerous US news media outlets.
Tillerson, at a press conference, denied reports that he ever called Trump a moron, but the NBC news outlet is standing by its report, saying it had spoken with a dozen “current and former senior administration officials for this article, as well as others who are close to the president.”
According to NBC, back in July Tillerson was seriously considering tendering his resignation.
“Tillerson, who was in Texas for his son’s wedding in late July when Trump addressed the Boy Scouts, had threatened not to return to Washington, according to three people with direct knowledge of the threats. His discussions with retired Gen. John Kelly, who would soon be named Trump’s second chief of staff, and Defense Secretary James Mattis, helped initially to reassure him, four people with direct knowledge of the exchanges said,” NBC published on its website.
In a brief statement President Trump said he had “total confidence in Rex,” adding, “”I am very honored by his comments, it was fake news, it was a totally phony story.”
From recent news reports it would appear that tensions between the two could be heightening as Trump came out publicly making statements about North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un that are clearly contradictory to Tillerson’s strategy. Some believe this could simply be a good cop/bad cop strategy by the two senior US officials.
On the other hand, Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker said that John Kelly and James Mattis, both generals, as well as Tillerson are the “people that help separate our country from chaos.” Corker went on to say that the three “work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. There are other people within the administration that don’t. I hope they stay because they’re valuable to the national security of our nation.”
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