White House On 'Moron' Report: 'Beneath' Tillerson To 'Weigh In On Every Rumor'
- 7 years ago
Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday was asked about President Trump's reaction after Rex Tillerson didn't deny calling him a "moron."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has dismissed speculation surrounding Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s apparent unwillingness to deny he had called President Trump a “moron.”
During a press briefing Thursday, a reporter asked her about Tillerson's remarks.
“As the secretary of state said, this is a petty, ridiculous accusation, and frankly, I think it's beneath the secretary of state to weigh in on every rumor out there,” Sanders answered. “His spokesperson, however, did come out and clarified that the secretary of state had never used those words.”
The controversy began on Wednesday after an NBC News report cited senior officials as saying that Tillerson “was on the verge of resigning this past summer amid mounting policy disputes and clashes with the White House.”
“Just days earlier, Tillerson had openly disparaged the president, referring to him as a ‘moron,’ after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, according to three officials familiar with the incident,” the piece also noted.
Following the NBC News report, Tillerson reaffirmed his commitment to the president, telling reporters at a press briefing, “To address a few specifics that have been erroneously reported this morning...I have never considered leaving this post.”
But when he was asked about allegedly calling Trump a “moron,” he seemed to sidestep the issue.
“I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that. I mean, this is what I don’t understand about Washington. Again, I’m not from this place, but the places I come from, we don’t deal with that kind of petty nonsense," Tillerson said. "And it is intended to do nothing but divide people. And I’m just not going to be part of this effort to divide this administration.”
Meanwhile, an inside source reportedly told CNN that the president had previously been made aware of the disparaging remark, but it is unknown if the two men talked about it afterwards.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has dismissed speculation surrounding Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s apparent unwillingness to deny he had called President Trump a “moron.”
During a press briefing Thursday, a reporter asked her about Tillerson's remarks.
“As the secretary of state said, this is a petty, ridiculous accusation, and frankly, I think it's beneath the secretary of state to weigh in on every rumor out there,” Sanders answered. “His spokesperson, however, did come out and clarified that the secretary of state had never used those words.”
The controversy began on Wednesday after an NBC News report cited senior officials as saying that Tillerson “was on the verge of resigning this past summer amid mounting policy disputes and clashes with the White House.”
“Just days earlier, Tillerson had openly disparaged the president, referring to him as a ‘moron,’ after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, according to three officials familiar with the incident,” the piece also noted.
Following the NBC News report, Tillerson reaffirmed his commitment to the president, telling reporters at a press briefing, “To address a few specifics that have been erroneously reported this morning...I have never considered leaving this post.”
But when he was asked about allegedly calling Trump a “moron,” he seemed to sidestep the issue.
“I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that. I mean, this is what I don’t understand about Washington. Again, I’m not from this place, but the places I come from, we don’t deal with that kind of petty nonsense," Tillerson said. "And it is intended to do nothing but divide people. And I’m just not going to be part of this effort to divide this administration.”
Meanwhile, an inside source reportedly told CNN that the president had previously been made aware of the disparaging remark, but it is unknown if the two men talked about it afterwards.