Rex Tillerson is out as Secretary of State, President Trump announced Tuesday morning.
Trump is replacing Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
The President said he will get along better with Pompeo, citing the Iran Deal as a key area he disagreed with Tillerson, who Trump says supports the controversial agreement.
According to the Washington Post:
“President Trump said Tuesday he has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as the nation’s top diplomat, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate outreach that includes possible talks with North Korea.
Trump and Tillerson have had a fraught relationship for many months. Trump told reporters Tuesday that he ultimately decided to fire the secretary because they disagreed over strategy in key areas of foreign policy, such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the approach to North Korea and the overall tone of U.S. diplomacy.
Still, the shake-up left officials at the State Department and throughout the national security community flummoxed, and the circumstances of the firing were in dispute.
White House officials said that — as Tillerson traveled through Africa last week — White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called to wake him up in the wee hours there Saturday to alert him that Trump had decided to replace him. Kelly then suggested that Tillerson return to Washington as soon as possible. Tillerson cut his trip short Monday…
“I actually got along well with Rex, but really it was a different mind-set, a different thinking,” Trump said Tuesday as he departed the White House for a trip to California. “When you look at the Iran deal, I think it’s terrible. I guess he thought it was okay. . . . So we were not really thinking the same. With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think it’s going to go very well.”
