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"The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or
that he would be leaving soon - FAKE NEWS! He’s not leaving and
while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots)
we work well together and America is highly respected again!"
Trump said on Twitter.
The tweet linked to a picture of Tillerson being sworn in as
secretary of state with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence
looking on.
Senior administration officials on Thursday said that Trump was
considering a plan to oust Tillerson, whose relationship with
the president has been strained by the top U.S. diplomat's
softer line on North Korea and other policy differences, as well
as by reports in October that he called the president a "moron."
Tillerson has not directly addressed whether he made the
comment, though his spokeswoman denied it. The New York Times on
Thursday first reported the White House plan to replace him.
Asked to comment on some White House officials wanting him to
resign, how the matter was being handled and what his plans
were, Tillerson replied: "It's laughable. It's laughable."
His comments came as he posed for pictures with Libyan Prime
Minister Fayez al-Sarraj of the United Nations-backed government
in Tripoli.
Tillerson visits Europe next week to attend NATO meetings in
Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, an Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Vienna on Thursday
and talks with French officials in Paris on Friday.
He is tentatively scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov in Vienna on Thursday on the sidelines of the OSCE
meeting, a senior State Department official told reporters.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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