Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Friday, according to initial media reports, but the announcement of Tillerson’s firing just hours after Tillerson disagreed with the White House on Russia’s role in the poisoning of an ex-spy in the United Kingdom is sure interesting. And Tillerson does not seem to be going along with the “fired on Friday” story.
According to Tillerson’s statement on being fired, “The Secretary did not speak to the President and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve.” And it’s not that Tillerson heard he was fired on Friday without speaking directly to Trump. Nope.
Boy, that 12 hours or so between Tillerson pointing to Russia in the UK nerve agent attack and calling it “a really egregious act” that would draw a U.S. response, and Tillerson being publicly fired, is looking more and more interesting. Criticizing Russia, even for an attack inside one of America’s closest allies, appears to be entirely off limits in the Trump administration. It’s like Trump is throwing down a challenge on the collusion front.