Trump sacks Tillerson

The Herald reports:

US President Donald Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as the nation’s top diplomat, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate outreach such as possible talks with North Korea, White House officials said today (NZT).

Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled diplomat cut short a trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington.

Tension between Trump and Tillerson has simmered for many months, but the president and his top diplomat reached a breaking point over the past week, officials said.

The reason for the latest rift was unclear, but Trump and Tillerson have often appeared at odds over policies such as the nuclear deal with Iran and the tone of US diplomacy. A spokesman for Tillerson said the secretary of state “had every intention of staying” in his job and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing.

 

Tillerson cut short his trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington. “I felt like, look, I just need to get back,” he told reporters aboard his plane home. The White House, however, had told him the previous Friday he would be dismissed, according to two administration officials. The news was not conveyed in person by Trump.

At the White House yesterday, Trump said the move had been considered for “a long time.”

“We disagreed on things … the Iran deal,” Trump told reporters. “So we were not thinking the same. With Mike Pompeo, we have a similar thought process.”

Being Trump’s Secretary of State must be the second worst job in the administration after being his communications director. They are looking for their fifth comms director in just over a year.

The West Wing is so toxic that half the jobs are unfilled – no one wants to work there.

On the issue of Trump though, it was a shocking judgement by the Deputy Head of Mission in the US to tweet that Democrats need to get their shit together or we will all die.

Beresford is a respected diplomat but her actions are serious. She may be unable to continue in her post if she is seen as agitating against the Government she is there to work with.