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Trump fires Secty. of State Rex Tillerson in a tweet, plans to replace with CIA chief Mike Pompeo

Xeni Jardin

This is not normal. Today, President Donald Trump has fired Rex Tillerson, and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as America’s top diplomat.

WaPo:

Tension between President Trump and Rex Tillerson, the nation’s top diplomat, has simmered for many months and reached a breaking point over the past week, officials said. Trump plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate outreach to North Korea.

The former Exxon CEO once had to deny reports he called his boss ‘a moron.’

And from Reuters, on how conflict over North Korea played into the internal White House drama.

In December Tillerson had offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that any negotiations would be about giving up its nuclear arsenal.

But the White House distanced itself from those remarks, and a few days later, Tillerson himself backed off.

Several months earlier in Beijing, Tillerson told reporters the United States was directly communicating with North Korea but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue. Trump contradicted Tillerson’s efforts a day later.

“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” Trump wrote on Twitter, using a pejorative nickname for Kim.“Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!” Trump added.

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