BREAKING: Trump ousts Secretary of State Tillerson, taps CIA director Pompeo

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives at a joint news conference between President Trump and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 10, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Files

 

By Susan Heavey and Paul Simao

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had replaced U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, and had tapped Gina Haspel to lead the CIA.

 

The resignation represents the biggest shakeup of the Trump Cabinet so far and had been expected since last October when reports surfaced about a falling out between Trump and Tillerson, 65, who left his position as chief executive of Exxon Mobil to join the administration.

 

U.S. stock index futures pared their gains and the dollar also trimmed gains versus the yen while extending losses versus the euro amid the news.

 

Trump publicly undercut Tillerson's diplomatic initiatives numerous times, including on Monday when the former secretary of state's comments about Russia appeared to be at odds with those of the White House.

 

Tillerson also appeared out of the loop last week when Trump announced he would meet with North Korea's leader and become the first sitting U.S. president to do so.

 

"Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!" Trump said on Twitter.

 

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott)

 

 

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-3-13

Trump says "I always pick the best people."

 

Translation:  he picks the worst people.

 

similar to Trump saying repeatedly "I would love to release my tax forms, believe me"

Translation:  He would hate to do so.

 

or "I would love to meet with Mueller and answer questions."

Translation:  Trump and his lawyers are scared to meet with Mueller.

 

And yet another one gone. This administration has a serious staff turnover issue, though I suspect Rex Tillerson will probably be quite relieved at no longer having to be a part of it. 

And the hogwash keeps piling up.

Time for timely Darth Putin

"Rex Tillerson said that Russia was behind #Skripal attack so I ordered @realDonaldTrump to sack him."

 

 

 - that dude sure is funny ... bit surreal too.

Not bad, if he continues that way he'll use up more personnel in 4yrs than all your presers together back to Teddy Roosevelt ... 

Actually, I thought Tillerson was a good man, should not have allowed himself to be tarred by Trump

We all saw this coming.  Tillerson was too decent and sane to last very long in this administration. 

You just cant get away with calling a moron a moron these days.

10 minutes ago, Grouse said:

Actually, I thought Tillerson was a good man, should not have allowed himself to be tarred by Trump

I bett he takes a long hot shower when he gets home.

19 minutes ago, oilinki said:

Time for timely Darth Putin

"Rex Tillerson said that Russia was behind #Skripal attack so I ordered @realDonaldTrump to sack him."

 

 

But funnily, Tillerson did indeed say that there is no doubt the Russians are behind the spy attack in the UK and then Trump fires Tillerson.

 

Quote

ABOARD A U.S. GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT — The poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter with a military-grade nerve agent in the U.K. is “a really egregious act” that appears to have “clearly” come from Russia, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said hours before being replaced

 

Meanwhile we now know what Trump's definition of "soon" is.

 

11 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

5555555555.....every time Trump says "fake news," we know that it must be true. 

Just so much #winning.

 

All this #winning is exhausting.

 

 

Trump shaves off the WH and America.

26 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

We all saw this coming.  Tillerson was too decent and sane to last very long in this administration. 

 

Well, an alternative view might be:  how "sane and decent" could any top exec be who is willing to work directly for a miserable troll like Trump.

 

Just saying yes to Trump and having him as one's boss might well be the antithesis of decent and sane.

 

No big loss here. The biggest achievement Tillerson did at the State Department was cutting staff and budget. He never had any foreign policy vision nor any diplomatic direction. But I guess that is to be expected when the reality TV president spouts off whatever Fox and Friends (or Hannity) tells him to say about foreign affairs. Jared was the defacto Secretary of State anyway.

 

Reports are in that Tillerson's first act on hearing the news was to buy a new shirt:

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Well, an alternative view might be:  how "sane and decent" could any top exec be who is willing to work directly for a miserable troll like Trump.

 

Just saying yes to Trump and having him as one's boss might well be the antithesis of decent and sane.

 

Yes, we can see that now.  But at the time, Tillerson may have felt that serving his country was enough, not necessarily his "willingness to work directly for a miserable troll like Trump."

Trump is draining the swamp, alright. HIS SWAMP.

 

The only problem is, every time one of his hand-picked cretins gets fed up with him, or he gets fed up with them, he typically ends up picking a replacement who's just as worthless, incompetent, unethical, and frankly, un-American at least in terms of standing up for and protecting a true democratic system of government for the United States.

 

In his black heart, of course, Trump doesn't actually believe in any kind of true democratic form of government. Because like in his business, there is no democracy, there's just the boss and everyone has to do exactly what the boss says.  Or else, "you're FIRED!" That's why Trump, a true autocrat, is clearly more comfortable and in sync with various autocratic dictators around the world like Putin, Duterte and others.

 

 

The following article explains why Pompeo might be a good toadie at Secretary of State. Seems he was already willing to lie for the WH in the past and agrees with most of the WH's foreign policy positions.

 

Mike Pompeo, your likely new and Trump-friendly secretary of state

 

Funny how the WH wants to drain the swamp and bring in outsiders yet Pompeo was a member of congress for 6 years. Yeah, filling that swamp back up again, huh?

 

1 minute ago, Berkshire said:

Yes, we can see that now.  But at the time, Tillerson may have felt that serving his country was enough, not necessarily his "willingness to work directly for a miserable troll like Trump."

 

Not to mention, the Sec. of State gig was supposed to be (though it obviously didn't turn out that way because of his boss) a nice, cozy opportunity for him to buddy up with his Russian business and petroleum buddies. Ohh, the fun they could have had together -- if only Donald hadn't felt he needed the Russians to help him steal the presidential election.

 

Yep, I can really see how a short-time CIA director from the Trump Administration is really going to do wonders for advancing U.S. diplomatic interests among the nations of the world.

 

Who better to have as your Secretary of State and U.S. representative to foreign countries and allies these days than a recently ex-spy chief...

13 minutes ago, Silurian said:

 Jared was the defacto Secretary of State anyway.

 

Until he lost his top secret security clearance...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearance-trump.html

9 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

25 minutes ago, Silurian said:

 Jared was the defacto Secretary of State anyway.

 

Until he lost his top secret security clearance...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearance-trump.html

 

That doesn't seem to stop Jared from his duties. Jared met with the President of Mexico 6 days ago even after his security clearance was revoked. He also seems to still be involved with the Middle East peace plan.

Edited March 13, 20188 yr by Silurian

1 minute ago, Silurian said:

 

That doesn't seem to stop Jared from his duties. Jared met with the President of Mexico 6 days ago even after his security clearance was revoked.

 

Obviously, nobody needs any particular government security clearance to meet with any particular person.

 

But, the loss of the top secret security clearance means others in the White House, and in the various departments, are no longer legally able to share top secret-rated into with him on the topics he may be discussing in those meetings. So it has a certain limiting effect depending on the topic(s) at hand.

 

Gina Haspel as new CIA chief....well well. On the positive side, she's not a doofus like Pompeo, and she certainly knows the ropes. On the other hand, she's got some murky issues which are certain to be highlighted pretty soon - like running the CIA "black" prison in Thailand, being heavily involved in torturing held suspects and destroying evidence.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel

Will Steve Mnuchin and James Mattis resign now?
 

Quote

 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin reportedly have forged a "suicide pact" in which all three members of President Trump's Cabinet would leave if one of them becomes a target of the president.

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/tillerson-mattis-mnuchin-forge-suicide-pact-in-the-event-trump-wants-one-of-them-gone-report/article/2636550 

12 minutes ago, Morch said:

Gina Haspel as new CIA chief....well well. On the positive side, she's not a doofus like Pompeo, and she certainly knows the ropes. On the other hand, she's got some murky issues which are certain to be highlighted pretty soon - like running the CIA "black" prison in Thailand, being heavily involved in torturing held suspects and destroying evidence.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Haspel

 

Sounds like a pre-eminent swamp dweller who should be a good match for Trump...

1 hour ago, oilinki said:

Time for timely Darth Putin

"Rex Tillerson said that Russia was behind #Skripal attack so I ordered @realDonaldTrump to sack him."

 

 

I think you are right, Trump would not side with the rest of the world and condone the brazen attack using nerve gas, wonder why, has Putin got something on him??? 

6 minutes ago, Basil B said:

I think you are right, Trump would not side with the rest of the world and condone the brazen attack using nerve gas, wonder why, has Putin got something on him??? 

Trump and Putin are real tight, the timing of this firing just shows us all how all roads lead to the Kremlin, Moscow and Putin. Partners in crime and....?