Tillerson Refutes Resignation Rumors, Affirms Support for Trump
By Cindy Saine October 04, 2017
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has denied reports that he is on the verge of stepping down and strongly reaffirmed his support for President Donald Trump and his foreign policies. The comments came after a bombshell news report detailing tensions between Trump and Tillerson.
"First, 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," Tillerson told reporters.
After listing what he described as a number of foreign policy achievements by the president and his Cabinet working together as a team, Tillerson denied he had been on the brink of resigning in July.
"To address a few specifics -- the vice president has never had to persuade me to remain because I have never considered leaving this post," Tillerson said.
Tillerson made the statement Wednesday to State Department reporters the same day NBC News reported the secretary was "on the verge" of resigning earlier this year, after months of tensions and reported frustration with President Trump, and only remained at the urging of Vice President Mike Pence.
An advisor to Vice President Pence, Jarrod Agen, refuted the NBC story in a written statement sent to VOA.
"The vice president can also confirm that, as the secretary of state made clear, at no time did he and the secretary ever discuss the prospect of the secretary's resignation from the administration. Any reporting to the contrary is categorically false," he said.
Agen also addressed an assertion in the NBC story by Tillerson's senior spokesperson R.C. Hammond that Tillerson and Pence had discussed if U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was being helpful.
"The vice president has known Ambassador Nikki Haley for many years, holds her in the highest regard, and appreciates her strong service to this administration at The United Nations," Agen said.
Some foreign policy analysts have speculated that if Tillerson ever were to resign, Haley might be a likely choice to replace him as the chief American diplomat.
The NBC News report also said Tillerson had called Trump a "moron" following a meeting with other top officials at the Pentagon in July.
When asked about the comment Wednesday, Tillerson did not deny it. But he said he was not going to deal with "petty" stuff, and instead praised Trump and his foreign policy goals, which he said "break the mold" of what is achievable.
President Trump also weighed in on Twitter Wednesday, saying "NBC news is #FakeNews and more dishonest than even CNN. They are a disgrace to good reporting. No wonder their news ratings are way down!
The NBC News report and Tillerson's statement comes just days after Trump appeared to undercut his top diplomat, saying Tillerson is "wasting his time" trying to negotiate with North Korea's leader.
In a series of tweets the president said: "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!"
Tillerson, in Beijing on Saturday, had acknowledged the United States has direct diplomatic channels through which to negotiate with Pyongyang about North Korea's continued nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
Veteran foreign policy analyst Michael O'Hanlon, with the Brookings Institution, told VOA he thinks Trump's tweets on Tillerson and North Korea are "regrettable."
"I think it's regrettable that President Trump so directly and tactlessly undercut his secretary of state," he said. "It would have been much wiser, and achieved whatever beneficial effects Trump needed to achieve, to say 'Tillerson has a daunting path ahead, but I wish him well, and North Korea better appreciate that in any negotiation, we will be proceeding from a position of strength with serious and firm demands.'"
The incident concerning North Korea was the latest in reported tensions between Tillerson and Trump, despite repeated denials from State Department and White House officials.
In an August television interview ("Fox News Sunday"), Tillerson was asked about Trump's much criticized response to deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, following a rally by white supremacists which resulted in clashes with counter-protesters.
Trump sparked outrage by initially blaming both sides for the unrest. Lawmakers from Trump's Republican Party and many social commentators accused the president of failing to single out unacceptable racial partisans for condemnation.
Tillerson said at first: "I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values or the commitment of the American government, or the government's agencies to advancing those values and defending those values." When asked specifically about Trump's values, Tillerson replied, "The president speaks for himself," without further explanation.
A Tillerson aide later denied that the remark constituted a criticism of Trump's values, but declined to soften the comment.
Also in August, Axios reported Trump's frustration with Tillerson bubbled over after a recent meeting on Afghanistan.
"Rex just doesn't get it; he's totally establishment in his thinking," Trump said, according to a source quoted by Axios.
VOA's Peter Heinlein and Steve Herman contributed to this report from the White House.
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