By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 4, 2017 |
By Dustin Rowles | Politics | October 4, 2017 |
This morning, as we told you, NBC reported that Rex Tillerson nearly resigned over the summer and once called Donald Trump a “moron” during a meeting with key cabinet officials.
Well, that wasn’t going to sit well, so Donald Trump trotted his Secretary of State out this morning to make a statement, in which he denied almost resigning from his position.
having to publicly grovel at the behest of our soft-brained president is getting Tiller-sonned
— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) October 4, 2017
Trump then issued this tweet:
The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2017
Well, that’s not entirely accurate, because Rex Tillerson notably did not deny calling Trump a moron.
When asked to address reports that he called Pres. Trump a "moron," Sec. Tillerson says he "won't deal with petty stuff like that." pic.twitter.com/rTho1RNKSV
— Axios (@axios) October 4, 2017
The secretary of state holding a press conference to deny a report but not denying that he called the president a moron is something else.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 4, 2017
Moreover, not only does NBC stand behind its reporting …
NBC News spokeswoman responds: "We stand by our reporting." https://t.co/5uaS85mSPl
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 4, 2017
… but they had an additional detail to add.
On NBC, @SRuhle clarifies that her source says Tillerson didn’t just say moron — “he said F-ing moron"
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) October 4, 2017
TL;DR: Rex Tillerson not only thinks that Trump is a “moron,” but that the is a “fucking moron.”
Rex thinks Trump is a moron, but he has a passion for bad leadership and gutting institutions that serve our interests.
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) October 4, 2017
Retiring GOP Senator Bob Corker, however, has Tillerson’s back.
Corker unplugged: tells press in capitol Rex, Mattis are standing in breach against "chaos" & carps that others in admin undermining Rex
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) October 4, 2017