President Trump has revealed the reason he fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this morning, replacing the former Exxon Mobil CEO with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
It turns out it all revolved around the Iran deal, the much-maligned agreement between the Obama Administration and the Iranian government over its nuclear weapons program.
AOL news provides the full quote Trump gave to reporters just minutes ago:
“We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things,” Trump said as he boarded the Marine One presidential helicopter en route to view prototypes for his proposed border wall.
“When you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible. He thought it was okay. I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently.”
You can see all of Trump’s comments below:
This isn’t surprising. It’s well known that Tillerson has had trepidation about outright ending the Iran deal as Trump has requested over and over. He has stalled and equivocated on the deal every time Trump has mentioned trashing it.
I suspect there was more behind the firing than what Trump admits, however. Despite their ideological differences on the Iran deal, there was the breaking down of the personal relationship between Trump and Tillerson that dates back to last summer.
As we’ve reported previously, Tillerson allegedly referred to Trump as a “moron” in a private meeting. The comment eventually leaked out, and Tillerson was forced to go on live TV and practically re-pledge his loyalty to the President.
Then there was their differing approach to North Korea, where, last fall, Trump told Tillerson, the nation’s lead diplomat, to not bother speaking to the rogue nation, undercutting Tillerson’s job.
All this and more likely led to Trump’s fateful decision to expel Tillerson from Foggy Bottom.
What do you think? Was Tillerson doomed from the start? Was the Iran deal the final nail in his coffin? Tell us your thoughts below!
