REX TILLERSON/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday [10-4-17] that he has never considered resigning his position, disputing an NBC News report that he was on the verge of such a move over the summer…
Tillerson told reporters that he had not spoken to Trump Wednesday morning…
NBC News reported Wednesday that Tillerson had referred to Trump as a ‘moron’ after a meeting at the Pentagon last July with members of the president’s national security team. Citing multiple unnamed sources, the network reported that the secretary of state was close to resigning in the wake of the president’s controversial, political speech at a Boy Scouts of America jamboree and only remained in his job after discussions with Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials.
Trump has butted heads at times with his top diplomat, most recently last weekend on Twitter, where the president appeared to undercut Tillerson, who had said a day earlier that the U.S. was in direct communication with North Korea in an effort to reduce tensions over its nuclear ambitions. ‘I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,’ Trump tweeted. ‘Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!’ “
-Louis Nelson, “Tillerson: I have ‘never’ considered resigning,” Politico, Oct. 4, 2017 11:26am