Goldstein had contradicted the official account of how Tillerson was notified of his termination. A spokesman for Tillerson said the secretary of state “had every intention of staying” in his job and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing.
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But the White House distanced itself from those remarks, and a few days later, Mr Tillerson himself backed off.
President Trump’s decision to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday had members of Maine’s congressional delegation focusing on his replacement, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and the challenges he will face from Russian Federation and North Korea if he is confirmed by the Senate. But Steve Goldstein, a State Department undersecretary of state for public affairs, said Tillerson did not know why he was being pushed out and had meant to stay. Goldstein could not immediately be reached for comment.
“The unceremonious and abrupt termination of Secretary Tillerson sends a poor message to people who might consider serving in the Trump administration”, Whitehouse wrote in a news release.
Following Tillerson’s dismissal, top Democrats in the House of Representatives and the US Senate joined Goldstein in lamenting the state of American politics on Twitter. However, it “underlines the overall hard situation, in which the diplomatic branch finds itself under the current USA president”, the analyst said, noting that the State Department is still understaffed in some key positions, which prevents it from effectively executing the U.S. foreign policy.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill were caught off guard by the firing, with many questioning its timing. Tillerson had opposed the decision along with some other senior White House officials.
In a statement announcing Mr Pompeo’s appointment, Mr Trump said: “I have gotten to know Mike very well over the past 14 months, and I am confident he is the right person for the job at this critical juncture”.
“Tillerson’s replacement by. Pompeo, who is known as a political partisan and an opponent of the Iran agreement, raises the prospect of the collapse of that deal, and increases the possibility that the administration might soon face not one, but two nuclear crises”, he said. “We’re going to work with our European partners and allies to see if we can’t address these concerns”, Tillerson said at the time. “It’s my time to serve, and that’s why I’m doing it”, he told the audience. If confirmed, she would become the CIA’s first female director.
Tillerson’s comments about Russian Federation have not been echoed by the White House – even as the United States’s key ally, Britain, has concluded it was “highly likely” Russian Federation was at least complicit in the attack.
He said he suspects Freeland and her team will now be researching Pompeo’s home state of Kansas, looking to find areas of commonality and cooperation – particularly on trade. Pompeo has also taken troubling positions on torture and surveillance. But Republicans have just a slim 51-seat majority, and confirmation is not certain.
Mr Pompeo issued a statement saying he was “looking forward” to representing the President.
After he was sacked by President Donald Trump, Tillerson also said U.S. efforts to pressure North Korea had worked better than expected and revealed he would pass authority to his deputy at midnight. Yet once he took office, Trump continued to recertify the deal – one of former President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievements – but also continued to criticize it. I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently.
Weeks before the summit’s announcement, Trump humiliated Tillerson by publicly rejecting his calls for the resumption of diplomatic talks between Washington and Pyongyang, without preconditions.
Airbus, Royal Dutch Shell and Total also have deals with Iran, which could be affected by a change in USA policy. “Congratulations to all!” he tweeted.
An aide of Tillerson responded by saying that Trump did not explain to Tillerson why he was sacked, and Tillerson had wanted to stay on. “I made that decision by myself”.
Hours later, however, Mr Trump accused Qatar of being a “high level” sponsor of terrorism, appearing to side firmly with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in the dispute and to undermine Mr Tillerson’s effort to adopt a more even-handed approach to broker a solution. Trump says he and Tillerson had been “talking about this for a long time”, and they had disagreed on issues like the Iran deal.
The president spoke to reporters at the White House shortly before departing for Joint Base Andrews for his trip to California.
Two White House officials said Tillerson was told he was out on Friday.
It was perhaps his last major act as Secretary of State.
September 30, 2017 – Tillerson says the US has a few channels in which it has been in contact with North Korea and was “probing” to see if Pyongyang would be willing to engage in direct talks on its missile and nuclear programs. I wish the secretary well. Having never worked in government before being named secretary of state, he struggled to adapt to Washington’s ways and the administration’s culture of backstabbing. That’s about three hours after Trump tweeted that Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo would replace Tillerson as secretary of state. She would be the first woman in that role.
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Trump and Tillerson’s antagonism was public knowledge among worldwide politicians.
