Political Wire

Tillerson Slip Reveals Secret Planning on North Korea

December 18, 2017 at 11:34 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “let slip last week a few tantalizing details about one of the nation’s most secret military contingency plans: how the United States would try to race inside North Korea to seize its nuclear weapons if it ever saw evidence that Kim Jong-un’s government was collapsing,” the Washington Post reports.

“For years, American diplomats have been trying to engage their Chinese counterparts in a discussion of this scenario… And for years the Chinese have resisted the conversation… The Chinese feared that if news of a conversation leaked, Beijing would be seen as conspiring with the United States over plans for an eventual North Korean collapse, eroding any leverage that Beijing still held over Mr. Kim.”

Diplomat Writes Scathing Resignation Letter

December 10, 2017 at 8:23 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Shackelford, who was seen as a rising star at the State Department, wrote a scathing resignation letter, “accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Trump administration of undercutting the State Department and damaging America’s influence in the world,” Foreign Policy reports.

Shackelford “wrote to Tillerson that she reluctantly had decided to quit because the administration had abandoned human rights as a priority and shown disdain for the State Department’s diplomatic work.”

“Her former colleagues said her departure — and the sentiments expressed in her letter — reflect a wider exodus of midcareer diplomats who have lost confidence in Tillerson’s management and the Trump administration’s approach toward diplomacy.”

Kushner Keeps Tillerson in Dark on Middle East Talks

December 2, 2017 at 10:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is increasingly alarmed by what he sees as secret talks between Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — fearful that the discussions could backfire and tip the region into chaos, according to three people familiar with Tillerson’s concerns,” Bloomberg reports.

“The central goal of the Kushner-Prince Mohammed negotiations … is for an historic agreement featuring the creation of a Palestinian state or territory backed financially by a number of countries including Saudi Arabia, which could put tens of billions of dollars toward the effort.”

Trump Denies He’ll Soon Fire Tillerson

December 1, 2017 at 3:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump tweeted that reports he would soon fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were “fake news,” and that “I call the final shots,” the New York Times reports.

The tweet came just hours after Tillerson called reports that the White House wants him to resign “laughable.”

Diplomats Say Anyone Is Better Than Tillerson

November 30, 2017 at 2:06 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Mike Pompeo may have a partisan reputation, hawkish instincts and little diplomatic experience, but morale at the State Department is so low that many career diplomats would be glad to see the CIA director replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state,” Politico reports.

“Anything, they say, would be better than this.”

Said one State Department official: “Pompeo should decline to keep on board in any capacity every single member of Tillerson’s senior staff.”

Why Rex Tillerson Is Done

November 30, 2017 at 12:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Swan: “Here’s why Tillerson is on the way out: Trump can’t stand him and has contradicted him on many major policy issues — from North Korea, to Iran, to Qatar, to Saudi Arabia.”

“He has no allies in the White House, few if any in the State Department beyond his innermost circle and he’s managed to alienate even his tiny number of supporters on Capitol Hill.”

“His natural constituency would’ve been Democrats and moderates who view him and General Mattis as restraints on the president, but he lost that crowd because of what he’s done to the State Department — a bungled reorganization and a failure to appoint people to top jobs.”

Wall Street Journal: Trump declines to quash speculation about Tillerson’s outster.

Trump Plans to Oust Tillerson as Secretary of State

November 30, 2017 at 10:11 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, within the next several weeks,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters, according to the White House plan. Mr. Cotton has signaled that he would accept the job if offered, said the officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations before decisions are announced.”

Diplomats Sound the Alarm as They Are Pushed Out

November 25, 2017 at 8:44 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “The departures mark a new stage in the broken and increasingly contentious relationship between Mr. Tillerson and much of his department’s work force. By last spring, interviews at the time suggested, the guarded optimism that greeted his arrival had given way to concern among diplomats about his aloofness and lack of communication. By the summer, the secretary’s focus on efficiency and reorganization over policy provoked off-the-record anger.”

“Now the estrangement is in the open, as diplomats going out the door make their feelings known and members of Congress raise questions about the impact of their leaving.”

Trump Wants Pompeo to Replace Tillerson

November 15, 2017 at 12:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump “has turned his daily intelligence briefing — a routine that in previous administrations has been a dry, formal affair — into a free-flowing conversation during which he peppers his CIA director, former House member Mike Pompeo, with questions about everything from national security threats to the internal dynamics of Congress,” Politico reports.

“The CIA director’s favored status in the West Wing has made him the odds-on choice to succeed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, according to more than half a dozen administration officials and outside advisers familiar with the White House’s current plans. It’s not clear when Tillerson might leave — he has vigorously denied rumors that he plans to resign anytime soon — but Pompeo has told associates that he expects the president to tap him for the position and that he’d accept the job if it’s offered to him.”

Tillerson’s Power Play

October 26, 2017 at 7:10 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A leaked State Department document is alarming diplomats and others who say it shows the accumulation of power among a small and unaccountable group of senior aides to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The chart, obtained by Politico, illustrates the growing influence of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, which traditionally has served as an in-house think tank but which Tillerson heavily relies upon for day-to-day decision making.”

“Critics already complain that the office — led by Brian Hook, a powerful Tillerson aide not subject to Senate confirmation — accepts too little input from career diplomats, and the chart, which lays out a method to craft foreign policy, shows no explicit role for them. The chart appears to show a top-down approach in which ideas emanate from the secretary’s inner circle rather than bubbling up from diverse sources, including Foreign Service officers in the field.”

Tillerson Insists He’s Not Going Anywhere

October 20, 2017 at 8:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Wall Street Journal he was confused about rumors of his departure and said he would remain in the job “as long as the president thinks I’m useful.”

Said Tillerson: “Who in the world is telling you that stuff?”

When asked if Trump should be reelected, Tillerson “paused for a beat, then said, ‘Well, of course. … I mean, I don’t think about it, quite frankly, right now… We’ve got these things we’re dealing with, but yeah.'”

Corker Says Trump Is Trying to ‘Castrate’ Tillerson

October 14, 2017 at 8:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), “who publicly laid into Trump earlier this week on Twitter by saying the White House had become an ‘adult day care center,’ slammed the president by saying he was undermining Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and creating scenarios in which the United States might be forced to choose between waging war on North Korea or Iran or allowing those countries to threaten the U.S. with nuclear weapons,” Politico reports.

Said Corker: “You cannot publicly castrate your own secretary of state without giving yourself that binary choice.”

He added: “When you jack the legs out from under your chief diplomat, you cause all that to fall apart. Us working with Beijing effectively is the key to not getting to a binary choice. When you publicly castrate your secretary of state, you take that off the table.”

Pompeo Considered as Replacement for Tillerson

October 6, 2017 at 7:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Mike Allen: “Trump advisers and allies are floating the idea of replacing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, age 53 — someone who’s already around the table in the Situation Room, and could make the switch without chaos.”

“We’re told that Trump is quite comfortable with Pompeo, asking his advice on topics from immigration to the inner workings of Congress. Pompeo personally delivers the President’s Daily Brief, making him one of the few people Trump spends a great deal of time with on a daily basis.”

“Sources tell us Trump recognizes that a Cabinet shuffle would bring bad press. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly wants stability, and so is discouraging high-level departures before next year. And yet, insiders say Trump’s relationship with Tillerson is broken beyond repair.”

Quote of the Day

October 5, 2017 at 1:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Sir, we didn’t need to verify that he called you a moron, he did it behind your back.”

— MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, responding on MSNBC to President Trump’s criticism that she never verified Rex Tillerson’s quote with him.

Tillerson Rift with Trump May Be Too Wide

October 4, 2017 at 10:19 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “The already tense relationship between the two headstrong men — one a billionaire former real estate developer, the other a former captain of the global oil industry — has ruptured into what some White House officials call an irreparable breach that will inevitably lead to Tillerson’s departure, whether immediately or not. Tillerson’s dwindling cohort of allies say he has been given an impossible job and is doing his best with it.”

“For months now, Trump has been piqued by rumors of disloyalty that have filtered up to him from Foggy Bottom, the home of the State Department… And as Tillerson has traveled the globe, Trump believes his top diplomat often seems more concerned with what the world thinks of the United States than with tending to the president’s personal image.”

“Meanwhile, Tillerson — who ran one of the world’s largest corporations with near-dictatorial control — has struggled to submit to the whims and wishes of a boss who governs by impulse.”

Tillerson Seems Safe for Now

October 4, 2017 at 2:21 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Swan: “While there’s plenty of speculation that Tillerson will resign or be fired by Trump, I’ve heard nothing from any senior officials to corroborate those rumors.”

Said one senior administration official: “I think his saving grace may be that Mattis and Kelly have his back and there’s not a great desire for further shuffling in the cabinet at this time.”

However: “Not denying he called the President of the United States a moron ends any chance of him being a credible representative of the administration around the world.”

Tillerson Denies He Threatened to Resign

October 4, 2017 at 11:16 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson refuted a report that said he was on the verge of resigning from his Cabinet post over the summer, CBS News reports.

Said Tillerson: “I have never considered leaving this post.”

He did not address the claim in the report that he called President Trump a “moron.”

Update: Stephanie Ruhle stands by her report: “My source didn’t just say he called him a moron. He said he called him an fucking moron.”

Tillerson Nearly Resigned After Calling Trump a ‘Moron’

October 4, 2017 at 7:02 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was on the verge of resigning this past summer amid mounting policy disputes and clashes with the White House,” NBC News reports.

“The tensions came to a head around the time President Trump delivered a politicized speech in late July to the Boy Scouts of America, an organization Tillerson once led.”

“Just days earlier, Tillerson had openly disparaged the president, referring to him as a ‘moron,’ after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials.”

“Pence has since spoken to Tillerson about being respectful of the president in meetings and in public, urging that any disagreements be sorted out privately… Yet the disputes have not abated. This weekend, tensions spilled out into the open once again when the president seemed to publicly chide Tillerson on his handling of the crisis with North Korea.”