Tag Archives: Rex Tillerson

PBS NewsHour reports: Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday told the PBS NewsHour that asking for personal favors and using United States assets as collateral is “wrong.” Tillerson spoke with NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff at a luncheon hosted by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio. Tillerson discussed reports that President …

First, a reminder of what this is all about: Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, has been causing quite a stir with her new memoir, in which she recounts how, during her time in the Trump administration, other top officials lobbied her to help them undermine the president. In “With All Due Respect,” Ms. Haley writes that …

The Washington Post reports: Two of President Trump’s senior advisers undermined and ignored him in what they claimed was an effort to “save the country,” former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley claims in a new memoir. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly sought to recruit her to work around and …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office. Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the …

Haaretz reports: U.S. President Donald Trump was “played” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on several occasions, said Trump’s former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday during a panel interview with Harvard professors. Tillerson, who had a contentious tenure as the U.S.’s top diplomat, said that Netanyahu is “an extraordinarily skilled” politician and diplomat, but “a bit Machiavellian.” He continued, …

The Daily Beast reports: Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claims the State Department was kept in the dark about key U.S. foreign-policy decisions during his time in the Trump administration because the president’s son-in-law had effectively set up his own shadow operation. Jared Kushner was privately working on strategic partnerships with foreign countries and meeting discreetly with world leaders …

Mediaite reports: CNN host Alisyn Camerota grilled White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on President Donald Trump‘s tweet about former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson being “totally ill equipped” — even though Trump was the one who thought he was qualified enough to appoint. Sanders replied with a non-answer — choosing to avoid the question and focus on how …

CNN reports: Joseph Yun, the former State Department Special Representative for North Korea, confirmed Monday that he signed an agreement to pay North Korea $2 million for the release of American student Otto Warmbier in 2017. In an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Yun said that he did so with the approval of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and that …

Glorious Leader is ever so pissed at his former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who earlier today declared (on video) that his former boss is undisciplined, won’t read anything, much less his press briefings, and had to be talked about committing “illegal acts” multiple times. The infighting will never end. But now the press gets to resurface all of the …

The Washington Post reports: The fired secretary of state, who while in office reportedly called Trump a “moron” (and declined to deny it), expounded on his thoughts on the president in a rare interview with CBS News’s Bob Schieffer in Houston. It wasn’t difficult to read between the lines. “What was challenging for me coming from the disciplined, highly process-oriented …

“If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no long grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom. A responsibility of every American citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is …

Ronan Farrow reports at The New Yorker: When I mentioned the White House’s role in escalating rumors of his demise, Tillerson appeared to have been waiting for the question. “Mm-hmm,” he said, nodding. “When you say ‘the White House,’ who are you talking about?” he asked. “The White House is comprised of how many people?” Hook, the director of policy …

The Washington Post reports: Rex Tillerson is officially done as secretary of state, but he got in what appeared to be one final dig at President Trump before heading out the door. At the every end of his farewell speech to the State Department on Thursday, Tillerson talked about the importance of maintaining your integrity and having respect for others. …

CNBC reports: Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whose firing was announced hours earlier, is slated to address reporters from the State Department briefing room on Tuesday afternoon. Tillerson’s ouster, first reported Tuesday morning, was quickly confirmed by President Donald Trump in a tweet. White House officials said Tillerson found out on Friday that he would be fired, according to …

Axios reports: The State Department said that Rex Tillerson did not speak to President Trump before the announcement that Mike Pompeo would replace Tillerson as Secretary of State, adding that Tillerson was “unaware of the reason” for his dismissal. State added that Tillerson “had every intention of staying because of the critical progress made in national security.” Remarkable statement from …

Mediaite reports: It would seem Steve Bannon is delighted by the news that Rex Tillerson is out as Secretary of State. When the news started to make waves on Twitter, Axios‘ Jonathan Swan tweeted that received a text from Bannon with what may be his first reaction to the Tillerson development. Bannon also expressed joy over the departure of WH …

CNBC reports: Rex Tillerson is out as secretary of State, ending a tumultuous tenure as America’s top diplomat that was marked by a series of public disagreements with his boss — President Donald Trump. Since Tillerson took the post in February 2017, mixed messages repeatedly came out of the White House and a State Department with diminishing relevance. The intramural …

Bloomberg reports: U.S. President Donald Trump is avoiding a visit to Britain because he wants to allow Prime Minister Theresa May to focus her attention on withdrawing from the European Union, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. While Trump said last week that he “canceled” a visit to London to formally open the new U.S. embassy because the old site …

Bloomberg reports: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged patience in waiting out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying there’s no place for him in the war-torn country’s future while vowing that the U.S. military will remain to counter Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Iran. In remarks prepared for a policy speech Wednesday on the Syrian war, Tillerson called for closer cooperation with …

Reuters reports: The U.S. State Department has told refugee agencies it will sharply pare back the number of offices across the country authorized to resettle people in 2018 as President Donald Trump cuts the number of refugees allowed into the United States. The announcement was made at a Dec. 1 meeting in Washington with State Department officials and representatives from …