WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday minimized tensions with his boss, President Donald Trump, and brushed aside comments from an influential lawmaker, who compared Trump\u2019s undermining of his top diplomat to a public castration. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am fully committed to his objectives. I agree with his objectives. I agree with what he is trying to do,\u201d Tillerson said of Trump on CNN\u2019s \u2018State of the Union\u2019 program. <\/p>\n
Tillerson\u2019s tenure as secretary of state has been dogged by rumors about rifts with Trump over policy. Earlier this month, Trump undercut Tillerson in a Twitter message, saying the secretary of state was wasting his time trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. <\/p>\n
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said Trump\u2019s comments were the equivalent of castrating the secretary in public. <\/p>\n
\u201cI checked. I\u2018m fully intact,\u201d Tillerson said when asked about Corker\u2019s comments on CNN. <\/p>\n
Tillerson repeatedly declined to answer a question about a report by NBC News that said the secretary of state had called Trump a \u201cmoron\u201d during a private meeting in July with U.S. officials. <\/p>\n
The secretary of state accused CNN moderator Jake Tapper of trying \u201cmake a game\u201d out of pressing him on the \u201cmoron\u201d comment. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2018m not playing,\u201d Tillerson said. <\/p>\n
Tillerson has often found himself at odds with the president on a range of issues, from withdrawing from the Paris agreement on climate change to North Korea and, at times, Iran, according to current and former U.S. officials and news media reports. <\/p>\n
Signs of tensions between Trump and Tillerson have raised questions among in foreign capitals about whether the secretary of state speaks for the administration. <\/p>\n
Tillerson has batted away rumors that he might resign. <\/p>\n
Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has been mentioned as a possible replacement to Tillerson should he step down. <\/p>\n
She said she was happy being in New York, where the United Nations is based, and said that from what she has observed Trump and Tillerson have a constructive relationship. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe secretary puts out as many options for the president as he can. He makes a decision, there\u2019s a mutual respect, and they go forward. And so everything that I have witnessed, all was fine,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Tillerson acknowledged in a separate appearance on CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation\u201d on Sunday that he and the president \u201cdon\u2019t agree on everything.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes he changes his mind,\u201d Tillerson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will work as hard as I can to implement his decisions successfully.\u201d <\/p>\n
Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis<\/p>\n
Article source: http:\/\/feeds.reuters.com\/~r\/Reuters\/PoliticsNews\/~3\/s6VeXc-ZOgE\/tillerson-plays-down-tensions-with-trump-idUSKBN1CK0TO<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday minimized tensions with his boss, President Donald Trump, and brushed aside comments from an influential lawmaker, who compared Trump\u2019s undermining of his top diplomat to a public castration. \u201cI am fully committed to his objectives. I agree with his objectives. I agree with what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-96233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}