On the morning of Tuesday, US President Donald Trump dismissed Rex Tillersonas secretary of state by means of a Twitter message and announced that he would replace Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Thanks to Rex Tillerson for his service He added in the same tweet, in which he also announced that the new director of the CIA will be Gina Haspel, until now number two of Pompeo in the agency.
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will his departure was long in the works. ecome the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
A few hours later, the Secretary of State informed in a brief televised speech that Trump had called him on board the presidential plane Air Force One at noon to formally inform you of your dismissal.
The immediate reaction to the sudden dismissal came from Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of Public Diplomacy, who clarified that Tillerson had not spoken to Trump and that he did not know the reason
for the dismissal.
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The most important thing is to ensure an orderly and smooth transition at a time when the country
continues to face important policy and national security challenges, he said from the headquarters of
the State Department.
About Tillerson
Tillerson, 65 years old and born in the state of Texas, had been appointed secretary of state in February
2017, a position he came to after having served as executive director of the oil company Exxon Mobil.
At the time of being nominated by Trump, doubts were generated about Tillerson due to his close ties
with Russia and President Vladimir Putin.
He is one of the most skilled business leaders and worldwide negotiators (in the world), Trump then
said when nominating Tillerson for Secretary of State.
The differences between Trump and Tillerson
The differences between Trump and Tillerson were well known in journalistic and diplomatic circles.
One of the issues on which the differences were most notable was North Korea.
In October of 2017, Trump referred to Tillerson in a tweet telling him that he was wasting his time
trying to dialogue with the little rocket man, referring to Kim Jong-un.
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That same month, Tillerson was forced to call a press conference to deny rumors that he planned to
resign, although he did not refer to reports that in July of that year he had referred to Trump as a fool,
after a meeting at the Pentagon.
YOU’RE FIRED! — no love lost for Tillerson on the front page of Saudi Arabia’s main English-language paper pic.twitter.com/JSZ8V08xgy
— Mohamad Bazzi (@BazziNYU) March 13, 2018
Last week, Tillerson was on an official trip to Africa when he was taken by surprise by the announcement
that Trump would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
