REX TILLERSON/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in an interview Sunday [8/27/2017] on Fox News, said the U.S. maintains its commitment to freedom and equal treatment of people around the world after receiving international criticism for the White House’s various responses to a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month…
Asked about the values of President Donald Trump, Mr. Tillerson said ‘the president speaks for himself.’
Mr. Trump has delivered several responses to the rally and subsequent violence that led to the death of one woman who was there protesting the white supremacists. He initially blamed both the white supremacists and counterprotesters for the violence. He subsequently has made statements rejecting racism and bigotry and denouncing some of the groups that participated in the protest of the removal of a Confederate monument.
Pressed on whether he was separating himself from Mr. Trump, Mr. Tillerson referred to remarks he made about racism and diversity at the State Department after the violence in Charlottesville.
R.C. Hammond, an adviser to Mr. Tillerson, said the secretary’s comments Sunday merely echoed points he previously has made.”
-Felicia Schwartz, “Secretary of State Says U.S. Committed to Equality,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 27, 2017 04:25pm