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Rex Tillerson Tag

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson received massive backlash when the media reported he planned to skip a formal NATO meeting on April 5-6, but kept his Moscow trip in mid-April. A Secretary of State has only missed a formal meeting twice in the past 21 years. However, the media has buried the fact that Tillerson planned to skip the meeting because he scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jingping in Florida with President Donald Trump on April 6-7. They also casually mention that he will travel to a G7 meeting in Italy between his weekend with Xi and the trip to Russia.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has warned North Korea that the U.S. will not rule out military action or tougher sanctions against the communist kingdom. From Fox News:
“We’re exchanging views,” Tillerson said, while standing a few feet within what is technically North Korean territory inside what is known as the Joint Security Area. “Nothing has been taken off the table,” he said, when asked whether he would rule out nuclearization of the peninsula, during the interview with Fox News.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may finally have his #2 man at the department. The Wall Street Journal has reported former Utah Governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has become one of the top contenders. Originally, Tillerson wanted Elliott Abrams, an official in the state department under President Ronald Reagan, but after learnings Abrams criticized Trump during the campaign, Trump said no.

Maxine Waters is frustrated. She desperately wants to impeach Donald Trump for something, as we highlighted in an earlier post, Maxine Waters: We need investigation to find evidence to impeach Trump:
On Joy Reid’s MSNBC show this morning, Dem Rep. Maxine Waters doubled down on her earlier statement thatmy greatest desire is to lead [President Trump] right into impeachment.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a trip to Germany. Tillerson said the U.S. will only "work with Russia when mutual cooperation is beneficial." He promised to put American interests first, though, if the two countries "do not see eye to eye." At the same time, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis soundly "rejected any kind of military collaboration with Russia." Russian President Vladimir Putin asked for more cooperation between the U.S. and NATO.