President Trump has denied controversial reports that say Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on his way out of the Trump administration and that CIA Director Mike Pompeo is taking over the post in January next year.
Trump took to Twitter anew to dismiss the said reports as nothing but “fake news.” Trump wrote: “The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon- FAKE NEWS! He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, ( I call the shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!” The President accompanied his tweet with a photo of Tillerson being sworn into office.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon - FAKE NEWS! He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!<a href="https://t.co/FrqiPLFJ1E">https://t.co/FrqiPLFJ1E</a></p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/936688444046266368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
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There were also malicious reports that the White House intentionally leaked the information in order to embarrass the Secretary of State. The same reports also said that Pompeo is Trump’s own choice for the post that Tillerson is vacating. The reports also claimed that Trump and former Republican lawmaker Pompeo are “close” and see eye to eye on foreign policies like a tougher approach against North Korea’s aggression and nuclear ambitions. It was also purported that Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark, will then take over the CIA post with Pompeo’s moving as the new Secretary of State.
There have been persistent reports saying that the relationship between Trump and Tillerson is tension-filled. Trump has not verbally criticized Tillerson’s performance as Secretary of State thus far, but he has been suggesting on social media for Tillerson to be tougher on the international stage. On the other hand, there were also rumors that Tillerson allegedly described his boss as a “moron.”
Pompeo, on the other hand, seems to be in agreement with Trump as far as the North Korea issue is concerned. The CIA director even praised Trump in August for his tough rhetoric against Kim’s rogue regime and for “uniting the world” in trying to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Tillerson has also denied the reports, calling them “laughable.”
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