Trump advisers float CIA director Pompeo to replace Tillerson
White House advisers are floating the idea of replacing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — whose prickly relationship with President Trump came to a head this week — with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, according to a report.
Axios reported that Pompeo is one of the few people Trump spends a lot of time with on a daily basis and is one of the few people in the administration who can deliver tough news to the president.
Pompeo also would have credibility with world leaders because he is firmly ensconced in Trump’s inner circle — something that can’t be said about Tillerson, according to the news site.
Trump is aware that a Tillerson departure would bring negative press at a time when White House chief of staff John Kelly is seeking stability in the chaotic West Wing, the report says.
But insiders say the fraught relationship between Trump and his top diplomat is beyond repair.
Trump was furious that Tillerson didn’t fully deny calling the president a “f—— moron,” sources told Axios.
NBC News reported that the secretary of state called Trump a “moron” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon — and that he has considered quitting his post. Tillerson held a hastily called press conference this week in which he insisted he wasn’t going anywhere and denied that Vice President Mike Pence had had to persuade him to remain.
But when asked if he had called Trump a “moron,” the former ExxonMobil chief demurred and said: “I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that.”
A State Department spokeswoman later issued a clearer denial.
Trump reacted to Tillerson’s press conference by tweeting: “The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!”
Tensions between Tillerson and Team Trump came to a boil around the time the president delivered a rambling, highly partisan and politicized address to the Boy Scouts of America, a group Tillerson led for two years, according NBC News.
The president recently appeared to scold Tillerson over his handling of the North Korean crisis — saying he was wasting his time making diplomatic overtures to dictator Kim Jong Un.
Another person whose name has been mentioned as a possible successor to Tillerson is UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Pompeo, a former congressman, is not viewed as eager to leave a job he loves — while Haley has been asserting herself as someone prepared for a larger role since she joined the administration, Politico reported.