American President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is leaving office and will be succeeded by current CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
The removal of Rex Tillerson is the largest change in Trump’s administration to date, and it has been anticipated since October when disagreements between the two surfaced. At that time, Tillerson allegedly referred to Trump as a “moron.”
Trump has publicly undermined several of Tillerson’s diplomatic initiatives, and last week he did not even inform his Secretary of State that he was accepting a meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
Trump, typical of him, announced the change early in the American morning on Twitter.
– Mike Pompeo, the director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a great job! I thank Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new director of the CIA, the first woman in that position. Congratulations to all!, wrote Trump.
Mike Pompeo/photo by Gage Skidmore, flickr
A senior American official told France Presse that the president wants to change his team ahead of negotiations with North Korea.
Trump praised Pompeo, a former officer and congressman from Kansas who has led the Central Intelligence Agency for the past 14 months, “as the right man for this job at this critical moment.”
– He will continue our program to restore America’s position in the world, strengthen our alliances, confront our adversaries, and seek the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, wrote Trump.
Trump has requested that Congress quickly confirm Pompeo as his administration enters high-stakes negotiations.
When it comes to Tillerson, Trump was sparing with words. “I thank him for his service, much has been achieved in these 14 months, and I wish him and his family all the best.”
According to Reuters, Trump made the decision to remove Tillerson last Friday but did not want to announce it while Tillerson was in Africa, where he was caught off guard and surprised by the information that Trump intends to meet with Kim Jong-un.
Tillerson then announced that “he was not feeling well,” shortened his program in Africa, and hurried back to Washington.
Tillerson came to the position of Secretary of State from the position of CEO of ExxonMobil, a major oil company, where he spent his entire career. At the time of his appointment, he had no diplomatic experience.
Gina Haspel, his former deputy, will take over as director of the CIA, having worked in the American intelligence agency since 1985. She will be the first woman to hold that position in American history.
