Rex Tillerson performance as the United States chief diplomat ended on Tuesday with his last official assignment in Nigeria as President Trump announced Mike Pompeo, the present C.I.A. director as the new secretary of state.
It was revealed that President Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled diplomat cut short a trip to Africa which culminated with a visit to Nigeria on Monday to return to Washington.
Relations between President Trump and Mr. Tillerson has been frosty for awhile but what led to this development is still very much unclear. Mr. Tillerson was once said to have allegedly called President Trump a moron.
A spokesman for Tillerson said the secretary of state “had every intention of staying” in his job and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing, this is according to the Washington Post.
Trump has selected Pompeo to replace him at the State Department, and Gina Haspel — the deputy director at the CIA — to succeed him at the CIA. She would become the first woman to run the spy agency.
