Trump Administration Burns Rex Tillerson After Ex-Secretary of State Calls Out Jared Kushner
The Donald Trump administration burned ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after he argued his work on foreign policy was hijacked by Jared Kushner.
The Daily Beast reported that Tillerson told Congress last month that Kushner set up a shadow operation that bypassed Tillerson’s staff, complaining this made him unable to manage policy.
Reporter Erin Banco later said an administration official told her that “Tillerson couldn’t figure out how to coordinate with the State Department.”
Another comment just came in from admin: “Jared and the WH were coordinating with the State Department, the problem is that Rex Tillerson couldn’t figure out how to coordinate with the State Department.”
— Erin Banco (@ErinBanco) June 27, 2019
Tillerson reportedly vented his frustrations about having to learn how to work with Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both of whom are related to the president.
“One of the challenges I think that everyone had… to learn to deal with was the role, the unique situation with the president’s son-in-law and daughter being part of the White House advisory team,” Tillerson said, according to the transcript The Daily Beast obtained. “There was not a real clear understanding of the role, responsibilities, authorities… which made it challenging for everyone, I think, in terms of how to deal with activities that might be undertaken by others that were not defined within the national-security process itself.”
A senior State Department official told The Daily Beast: “Secretary [Mike] Pompeo and Mr. Kushner have a strong working relationship and coordinate quite closely.”
[Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
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