ETHICS/REX TILLERSON/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday [5-16-18] appeared to offer an implicit rebuke of his old boss, as he warned of a ‘growing crisis in ethics and integrity’ during a commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute…The ex-diplomat — who did not mention President Donald Trump by name — also delivered a pointed commentary on the importance of truth in political discourse, and insisted that ‘a common set of facts’ was essential to maintaining a free society. In January 2017, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway memorably defended former White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s misrepresentation of the crowd size at the president’s inauguration, saying Spicer ‘gave alternative facts.’ Trump himself has been the target of numerous fact checks, with the Washington Post reporting on May 1 that the president had made 3,001 false or misleading claims since taking office…Tillerson was unceremoniously booted from the president’s cabinet in March after Trump announced his firing on Twitter. The two businessmen reportedly lacked chemistry, and their relationship hit a new low after Tillerson allegedly referred to the president as a ‘moron’ during a meeting at the Pentagon — a claim the former Exxon Mobil CEO never directly refuted.”
-Quint Forgey, “Tillerson warns of ethical crisis among U.S. leaders in speech, “Politico, May 16, 2018 1:48 pm