FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

---

President Trump Fires Tillerson as Secretary of State, Taps Pompeo To Replace Him

March 13, 2018 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump today announced the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a brief press conference as he was boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base to fly to California.

Trump said that Tillerson was “a good man,” but “we disagreed on things.” Trump cited the Iran deal. “I wanted to break it,” Trump said. Trump said that he and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, whom he named as Tillerson’s replacement, “have a very similar thought process.”

Trump said, “I made the decision” to meet with North Korea, perhaps signalling that Tillerson did not agree with it.

Trump also said on the Skripal alleged poisoning, that it “Sounds like it would be Russian,” and said that Theresa May would be calling him later today. Trump said, “They [the British] believe that it was Russia, and I would certainly take that finding as fact.”

Trump said that he and Mike Pompeo, the new Secretary of State, “are always on the same wavelength.... I am getting close to having the Cabinet I want.”

Multiple press reports say that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly called Tillerson Saturday morning, and told him that President Trump would fire him. Tillerson then immediately cut his trip in Africa short, and returned to Washington today.