President Donald Trump vehemently criticized a report from NBC News published Wednesday that claimed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wanted to quit his position before being stopped by Vice President Mike Pence.
But now Tillerson is proving it’s fake news, coming out in support of the president.
Tillerson says he has never considered leaving the post of secretary of state.
He said Wednesday that reports suggesting otherwise are “erroneous.”
He was giving a statement after the article published suggested he was on the verge of resigning this summer amid mounting policy disputes with the White House. NBC said the tensions came to a head around the time President Donald Trump gave a politicized speech in July to the Boy Scouts of America, an organization Tillerson once led.
NBC also said Tillerson referred to Trump as a “moron” after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials. NBC cited three anonymous officials familiar with the incident.
“I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that,” Tillerson said in a White House press conference.
“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. And it is intended to do nothing but divide people.”
Trump also commented on the report, tweeting:
NBC news is #FakeNews and more dishonest than even CNN. They are a disgrace to good reporting. No wonder their news ratings are way down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2017
The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2017
While Trump and Tillerson have disagreed on certain issues, Tillerson has never suggested leaving the post.
This is another assumption by the mainstream media made solely to increase ratings with a punchy, and false headline.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.