Tillerson out, Pompeo in.
Four hours after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed in Washington after a tour of Africa, he received word of his removal via tweet from Donald Trump.
CIA director, Mike Pompeo, is now the Secretary of State.
About Tillerson’s nebulous firing, Under-secretary of State, Steve Goldstein, said:
“The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling.”
Goldstein has now been fired as well.
Shortly before leaving for California, where he was expected to view prototypes for a border wall, Trump told reporters:
“I’ll be speaking to Rex over a long period of time. I actually got on well with Rex but it was a different mindset.”
Giving some indication over a motive for removing Tillerson, Trump added:
“When you look at the Iran deal: I think it’s terrible, I guess he thought it was OK. I wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently.”
Trump was referring to the disagreement he and Tillerson had over the 2015 nuclear program agreement between Iran and the United States. Tillerson believed the U.S. needed abide by the agreement’s parameters while Mike Pompeo sides with Trump on decertifying it.
Three months ago, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to confirm if reports about Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s imminent departure and replacement with Pompeo were true.
Late last year, Tillerson reportedly called Trump a “fucking moron,” provoking Trump to challenge Tillerson to an I.Q. test.
Twice Trump was asked if that incident played a role in Tillerson’s firing. Trump replied:
“I respect his intellect. I respect the process that we’ve all gone through together. We have a very good relationship for whatever reason, chemistry, whatever it is – why do people get along?
“I’ve always, right from the beginning, from day one, I’ve gotten along well with Mike Pompeo, and frankly I get along well with Rex too. I wish Rex a lot of good things. I think he’s going to be very happy. I think Rex will be much happier now.”
Reports of the friction between Tillerson and the president lead to his being given the nickname “Rexit.”
With Mike Pompeo now responsible for representing the United States’ foreign interests and security, we have a Trump loyalist and the greatest beneficiary of campaign money from the notorious benefactors for libertarian and conservative causes, Charles and David Koch.
After being elected to the House of Representatives eight years ago, Pompeo was called the “Koch Brothers’ Congressman” and “the congressman from Koch.”
Here are the Trump administration officials who have resigned or were fired since Trump took the Oath of Office January 20, 2017:
- Sally Yates.
- Preet Bharara.
- James B. Comey.
- Rich Higgins.
- Derek Harvey.
- Anthony Scaramucci
- Michael Flynn
- Katie Walsh
- K.T. McFarland
- Tera Dahl
- Michael Short
- Reince Priebus
- Ezra Cohen-Watnick
- Stephen K. Bannon
- Sebastian Gorka
- William Bradford
- Tom Price
- Jamie Johnson
- Carl Higbie
- Omarosa Manigault
- Taylor Weyeneth
- Rob Porter
- Michael Dubke
- Walter Shaub
- Mark Corallo
- Sean Spicer
- Elizabeth Southerland
- Carl Icahn
- George Sifakis
- Maliz Beams
- Elizabeth Shackelford
- Paul Winfree
- Dina Powell
- Jeremy Katz
- Thomas Shannon
- John Feeley
- Rick Dearborn
Add Rex Tillerson to that list.
Image credit: The Japan Times
