President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, on the 13th of March, officially fired the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, via popular social media network, Twitter. The sack which came around 1:44 pm, American time, stated that Tillerson would be replaced by Mike Pompeo, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and has raised a number of questions.
The Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who was on tour in Africa, when he received the news of his sack, was reportedly able to secure some time to officially handover and as a result, he would be officially leaving office on the 31st of March, 2018.
There are speculations and assumptions that this sack is as a result of the fact that Tillerson had criticised the Russian government for the alleged poisoning of their ex-spy in the UK.
The sack of Rex Tillerson came as a shock to more than just the ex-secretary. A lot of other Statehouse representatives have expressed displeasure and political analysts have suggested that the action is in retaliation for the time that Rex Tillerson referred to Trump as a “moron” (with expletives attached).
Tillerson’s Sack
Prior to the sack of Tillerson, there have been a number of White House vs. Tillerson public disagreements – and these continued until the very end. The two sides have offered different accounts of when the Secretary of State was told he was being fired.
According to the White House, Tillerson received a phone call on Friday, 9th March, from Chief of Staff John Kelly, who told him that he was being let go. They say Mr. Tillerson then asked if the announcement could be held until his return from his tour of Africa.
However, according to the top US diplomat’s team, he felt unwell on Saturday and decided to cut short his tour by a day.
His firing was reported by the Washington Post on Tuesday before any tweet was sent, according to a White House official.
But a statement released by Under Secretary Steve Goldstein implied that Mr. Tillerson was first made aware of his firing by President Trump’s tweet.
“The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason,” he said.
After this statement was released Mr. Goldstein himself was fired by the White House.
Mr. Tillerson also said he received a call from the President about three hours after Mr. Trump sent a tweet announcing his departure.
Rex Tillerman’s insult to Trump
Following President Trump’s return from meeting and sympathizing with the first responders, medic and emergency services at the scene of the Vegas concert shooting, he was greeted, not with headlines of his very chivalrous act but by the news making waves that his Secretary of State had failed to deny the fact that he called the President a “moron” (expletive included).
White House reports claimed that the President tempered justice with mercy and did not retaliate. At least, not immediately.
Tillerson’s comment on Russia’s involvement in the poisoning of ex-Russian Spy
Just before he was ousted as Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson had cast the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain as part of a “certain unleashing of activity” by Russia that the United States is struggling to understand – diverging from the White House’s official response.
Tillerson warned that the poisoning would “certainly trigger a response.”
His remarks came hours before President Donald Trump announced that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would replace Tillerson as the top U.S. diplomat.
Tillerson, echoing the British government’s finger-pointing toward Moscow, said he didn’t yet know whether Russia’s government knew of the attack with a military-grade nerve agent, but that one way or another, “it came from Russia.” He said it was “almost beyond comprehension” why a state actor would deploy such a dangerous substance in a public place in a foreign country where others could be exposed.
“I cannot understand why anyone would take such an action. But this is a substance that is known to us and does not exist widely,” Tillerson told reporters as he flew from Nigeria to Washington. “It is only in the hands of a very, very limited number of parties.”
Tillerson’s statement represents a split from the White House’s previous comments on the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
Asked whether the U.S. believes Russia was behind the attempted murder, and whether the U.S. will retaliate against Russia, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered support for Britain — but avoided naming Russia in particular.
“Right now, we are standing with our U.K. ally. I think they’re still working through even some of the details of that. And we’re going to continue to work with the U.K., and we certainly stand with them throughout this process,” Sanders said in a press briefing Monday.
Why so much Noise?
The undersecretary to Tillerson, Steve Goldstein, who released a statement on behalf of Tillerson when he was fired, was fired hours later himself. These recent sacks have resulted in a lot of questions with regards to the potential harm this may have on the democracy of the US.
President Trump is used to making excuses of compatibility as a reason for his termination of the appointments of several White House appointees. In explaining his decision to fire Tillerson, Trump said they had disagreed on many topics, but he specifically singled out one dispute: Whether or not to stay in the Iran pact.
“When you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible. He thought it was OK,” Trump said. “I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently. So we were not really thinking the same.”
As a result of this indication that the President may be firing staff based on personal disagreements has raised some questions amongst the media and political sphere of the United States.
In Nigeria, critics of President Buhari argued, rather oddly, that a US Secretary of State will not come personally to Nigeria as long as Trump is President. Tillerson’s visit to Nigeria attracted some silence from opposition, until he was sacked just a day after. The ignorance of the background story created a talking point.
Reactions
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim lobbying organisation in the US, has released a statement opposing the nominations of Pompeo and Haspel.
“Those, like Mr Pompeo, who have expressed Islamophobic views and have been associated with an anti-Muslim hate group, or like Ms Haspel, who personally oversaw the torture of detainees, should have no role in our nation’s government, let alone at the highest levels of policy-making,” the group’s director said in a statement.
While he was in Congress, for instance, Mike Pompeo once told a church crowd that the “threat to America” was caused by “people who deeply believe that Islam is the way.” He also accused Muslim leaders of not condemning an attack they had already condemned.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, says Tillerson was “not close to tough enough” on Russia, a country that had previously given the sacked secretary of state an honour called the Russian Order of Friendship.
Schumer added that he has not called on his Democratic colleagues to oppose the nominations of Pompeo and Haspel.
He says he wants to hear from them first before deciding whether to try to block their appointments.
Meanwhile, one of Nigeria’s “Media House” DailyPost could not wait for the Trump administration to give reasons for Tillerson’s sack, so they pick one up from anywhere.
This they got from a fake Donald Trump account. They were not the only ones fooled as Americans can be found all over the account reacting to the tweet.
I just fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Yesterday Rex said something MEAN about Putin. I’ve warned EVERY American that under NO circumstances was ANYONE allowed to criticize Putin or Russia (even if they committed acts of war against us). Mike Pompeo will replace Rex.
— Donald J. Trump (@RealDonaldTrFan) March 13, 2018
