Secretary of State Says ‘My Commitment to the President Is Strong’ After Report That He Called Trump a ‘Moron’
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has fired back at an NBC News report that he called President Trump a “moron” and almost resigned this past summer amid growing tensions with the White House.
In a press conference at the State Department Wednesday morning, Tillerson said his “commitment to the president is strong.”
“The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because I have never considered leaving this post,” Tillerson said. “I dispel this notion that I have ever considered leaving. There has never been a consideration in my mind to leave.”
Tillerson went on to praise the president as a “smart” leader who “loves his country” and “demands results wherever he goes.”
“Accountability is one of the bedrock values the president and I share,” he added.
Pressed about NBC News’ report that he called Trump a “moron,” Tillerson said: “I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that. This is what I don’t understand about Washington. I’m not from this place.”
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Tillerson also expressed his disapproval over what he sees as critics’ “efforts to undermine President Trump’s own agenda.”
“I’m just not going to be part of this effort to divide this administration,” he said.
Asked whether Trump requested that Tillerson hold the press conference, the secretary of state said he had not spoken with the president Wednesday morning.
Minutes after the press conference, Trump took to Twitter to announce that Tillerson had “totally refuted” the “#FakeNews” report by NBC News.
Before Tillerson’s remarks, the president fired off a pair of tweets criticizing the “Fake News Media” and calling NBC News “more dishonest than even CNN.”
After the hastily arranged press conference, the Twitterverse noted that Tillerson pointedly did not deny that he had called Trump a “moron.”
“Tillerson won’t deny he called Trump a “moron,” which any sentient person would interpret as confirmation that he did,” tweeted New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza.
“Tillerson was asked point blank if he called Trump a moron,” tweeted author Brian Klaas. “He refused to anseer. NBC stands by its reporting. You do the math.”
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