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Monday 16 october 2017

‘I’m intact,’ Tillerson says, brushing off drama with Trump

Continued from Front “I know the appearance of out and do the best I can
it certainly looks like there’s to execute those decisions
“I’m not making a game sometimes disunity,” Tiller- successfully.”
out of it,” Tillerson said Sun- son said on CBS’ “Face the Despite Tillerson’s attempts
day on CNN’s “State of the Nation.” ‘’There’s no con- to show he’s in lockstep
Union.” Asked once more, fusion among the people with the president, the NBC
he replied: “I’m not play- that matter.” News report of his “moron”
ing.” Questions about Trump’s comment infuriated Trump,
Yet Tillerson has let oth- tensions with his secretary who privately bashed his
ers play it on his behalf. of state come as the U.S. secretary of state to asso-
He previously dispatched faces a series of interna- ciates and publicly chal-
State Department spokes- tional crises, including the lenged Tillerson to an IQ
woman Heather Nauert to threat posed by North Ko- test.
flatly deny he ever called rea and fate of the Iran “And I can tell you who is
the president a “moron.” nuclear deal. going to win,” Trump told
It was unclear why Tiller- Tillerson’s critics, including a Forbes magazine. The
son was unwilling to repeat growing list of foreign policy White House later said he
what his spokeswoman has experts, have questioned was joking.
said on his behalf. But the whether he can effectively The White House did not im-
continuing questions have lead American diplomacy mediately respond to Tiller-
brought his strained rela- if he’s perceived by foreign son’s CNN interview.
tionship with the president leaders as being at odds Trump visited his Virginia
into renewed focus. with the true decision-mak- golf course for the second
Tillerson insisted the rela- er: Trump. consecutive day on Sun-
tionship is solid, and that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson makes a statement at the State Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, day.
the continuing public focus Department in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017. Tillerson a Republican who has be- People close to Trump say
on Sunday ducked, danced and sidestepped the question of
on whether he’s being un- whether he truly called President Donald Trump a “moron,” come a vocal critic of the the president has grown in-
dermined by the president dismissing the brouhaha as the “petty stuff” of Washington. president, made the cas- creasingly dissatisfied with
has not impeded his ability (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) tration analogy last week Tillerson, whom Trump views
to succeed in his role. ington-centric noise that Mobil CEO never served in to The Washington Post. as holding a conventional
As the drama has played he says he doesn’t under- government or politics be- “At the end of the day, he view of America’s role in
out, Tillerson has brushed it stand as an outsider. The fore becoming secretary of makes decisions,” Tillerson the world and lacking star
off as meaningless Wash- Texan and former Exxon state. said of the president. “I go power. q