By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--March 13, 2018
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as the nation’s top diplomat, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate negotiations with North Korea, White House officials said Tuesday. Tension between Trump and Tillerson has simmered for many months, but the president and his top diplomat reached a breaking point over the past week, officials said. The reason for the latest rift was unclear. A spokesman for Tillerson said the secretary of state “had every intention of staying” in his job and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing. Trump has selected Pompeo to replace him at the State Department, and Gina Haspel — the deputy director at the CIA — to succeed him at the CIA. She would become the first woman to run the spy agency.Reactions to this "reshuffling" are all over the map, but they tend to fall into three camps.
Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled diplomat cut short a trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington.Tillerson refused to resign but, even if he wasn't immediately fired, he knew he was on his way out - days before he commented on the Russia story.
TIMELINE: Trump called Pompeo over the weekend + is believed to have offered him the job then, per U.S. official. Tillerson was made aware "a few days ago" he might be fired, but didn't learn he was out until an aide showed him Trump's tweet this morning. https://t.co/ZJuENCy3mk
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) March 13, 2018
President Trump did not feel Rex Tillerson had his back lately and has wanted Mike Pompeo as his secretary of state for months, @kaitlancollins reports. The White House began planning for Pompeo to take the job last fall https://t.co/TYsY77tQUx pic.twitter.com/mMb6QKlOGA
— CNN (@CNN) March 13, 2018
Pompeo will need Senate confirmation for SecState position under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution providing Advice and Consent. But under US Code 5 3345/3346..the President can fill an “A” level, Senate confirmed position with someone at the same level for 210 days
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 13, 2018
View Comments
Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com
Be sure to “like” Robert Laurie over on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.