REX TILLERSON/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Hours after his boss, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was ousted Steve Goldstein, the under secretary of public affairs at the State Department has been fired by the White House.
Goldstein publicly contradicted the White House account of how Tillerson was fired on Tuesday [3-13-18] morning.
Goldstein said Tillerson was officially notified he’d been fired from a tweet from President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning, and in a statement, said Tillerson had ‘every intention of remaining.’
A senior administration official said Trump asked Tillerson to step aside on Friday and a senior White House official later clarified that chief of staff John Kelly told Tillerson that he would be replaced, but did not specify the timing.
Asked how Tillerson learned of his dismissal, Trump said Tuesday that ‘Rex and I have been talking about this a long time.’…
As undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Goldstein was the fourth highest ranking official at the State Department. He was sworn in on December 4.
With Goldstein gone, the State Department has only one permanent undersecretary in place out of six. The other, Undersecretary for Political Affairs Tom Shannon, plans to retire when his successor is confirmed. Two additional nominees are pending approval by the senate.”
-Elie Labott, “White House fires top Tillerson aide,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Mar. 13, 2018 01:30pm