President Trump’s decision to remove Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday capped off weeks of high-level departures and ended months of speculation about the fate of an official who never quite clicked with the president he served.
The confusion surrounding when and how Tillerson learned of his fate underscored the sense of chaos White House aides have increasingly described as a parade of high-level staffers have headed for the exits.
A senior administration official told the Washington Examiner chief of staff John Kelly phoned Tillerson in Africa on Friday to inform him of his firing. But the State Department said in a statement on Tuesday the secretary of state was “unaware of the reason” behind his removal and suggested Tillerson learned about the decision through a tweet Trump posted earlier that morning.
The administration has since fired the State Department aide who made the contradictory statement about how Tillerson learned of the decision, a senior administration source told the Examiner.
Republicans on Capitol Hill expressed surprise at the announcement of Tillerson’s ouster, suggesting White House officials gave little advance warning to the senators who will soon bear responsibility for confirming the next secretary of state.
Tillerson’s replacement, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, has long enjoyed a friendly relationship with Trump. The president strongly considered Pompeo for chief of staff shortly before ousting Reince Priebus and replacing him with Kelly last year, sources told the Washington Examiner at the time.
Pompeo and Trump have bonded over the Presidential Daily Briefing, which Pompeo delivers personally at the White House nearly every day. A former Republican congressman, Pompeo is considered more hawkish than Tillerson on issues from Russia to the Iran deal, a dynamic that could complicate his confirmation process in an increasingly divided Senate.
Several Senate Democrats have already stated their intention to oppose the nomination.
Few of Trump’s allies expressed surprise at the news of Tillerson’s firing on Tuesday.
“[I] always felt it was a matter of time” before Trump removed Tillerson, one person close to the White House said.
Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director, said people close to Trump knew the change was coming.
“I think it was expected, at least by the insiders,” Scaramucci told Fox Business on Tuesday. “I think that there was signals in there that he was ready to move on.”
Tillerson’s exit marks the latest in a string of forced or voluntary departures that have left the West Wing searching for candidates to fill key roles.
Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, announced his resignation last week amid tensions in the West Wing over the president’s decision to forge ahead with a tariffs policy Cohn had long fought to suppress.
Hope Hicks, White House communications director, said earlier this month that she would leave the administration after years of service to the Trump family. Josh Raffel, another senior press aide, had unveiled his plans to leave the White House just days earlier.
And in early February, top Trump staffer Rob Porter stepped down at the height of a scandal over allegations that he abused his two ex-wives, creating a controversy about staff security clearances that ultimately engulfed several other high-level aides. Under pressure from the revelation that he permitted Porter to maintain a temporary clearance for roughly a year, Kelly downgraded security clearances for everyone operating on an interim basis — including for Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.
A State Department official declined to answer questions about whether two of Tillerson’s closest aides would remain in their positions after his departure. Brian Hook, Tillerson’s top policy adviser, and Margaret Peterlin, his chief of staff, face an uncertain future at the agency, as Pompeo could aim to bring his own people when he takes over Mahogany Row.
