Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, in an appearance at a charity event in Houston, spoke about President Trump for the first time. He was asked by the reporter Bob Schieffer how he would describe Donald Trump.
The former EXXON CEO called Trump “undisciplined”, said he “doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports”, and “doesn’t get into the details of things and just says this is what I believe.” You can’t talk him out of things, he added.
Tillerson said their relationship soured over Trump’s repeated demands that Tillerson do things that were illegal.
“So often, the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want you to do, and here’s how I want you to do it,’ ” Tillerson said at a fundraiser for the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, in his first public remarks about his truncated tenure since he was let go in March.
“And I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President, I understand what you want to do. But you can’t do it that way. It violates the law,’ ” he said.
The fact is Trump is inexperienced and, as far as we can see, he hasn’t done anything illegal. Perhaps the special counsel will prove otherwise but we haven’t seen the evidence.
In his remarks Friday, Tillerson conveniently did not offer any specific examples of which requests he deemed illegal. He said he offered to work to change the law, but that apparently did not curb Trump’s frustration.
“I’d say, ‘Here’s what we can do,’ ” Tillerson said. “ ‘We can go back to Congress and get this law changed. And if that’s what you want to do, there’s nothing wrong with that.’ I told him, ‘I’m ready to go up there and fight the fight if that’s what you want to do.’ ”
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Tillerson was once accused of calling the President a “moron” and he never denied it. That’s really when things went sour between them.
THE RESPONSE
President Trump responded on Twitter as he does when someone picks a fight or insults him. He compared Tillerson unfavorably to Mike Pompeo and insulted his intelligence and work ethic.
“Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!”
Tillerson also criticized Americans for learning from tweets and not wanting to learn more about what is going on. Mr. Tillerson himself was fired by tweet, although he was forewarned Trump was unhappy with him.
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