(CNN) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered effusive praise for President Donald Trump’s approach to the world on Wednesday after reports of a rift between the President and his chief diplomat.
“President Trump’s foreign policy goals break the mold of what people traditionally think is achievable by our country,” Tillerson said. “Our job is now to achieve results on behalf of America and we are doing that.”
“What we have accomplished, we have accomplished as a team,” Tillerson said, adding that he reaffirmed his “commitment to this role.”
“He loves this country. He puts Americans and America First. He’s smart,” Tillerson said in a hastily arranged statement from the State Department. “He demands results wherever he goes and he holds those around him accountable.”
Tillerson denied a report that Vice President Mike Pence encouraged him to remain in his post after he wavered on staying.
“The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because I have never considered leaving this post,” he said.
Tensions between Tillerson and Trump have been simmering for months, sometimes visibly as the two have publicly diverged on some of the administration’s most crucial foreign policy challenges, including Iran and North Korea.
Tillerson was speaking in the wake of an NBC article that described him dismissing Trump as a “moron” and quotes aides discussing the top US diplomat’s “fury” about the ways Trump has seemingly undermined him in public on several foreign policy initiatives.
Trump was aware that Tillerson had referred to him as “a moron” after a meeting at the Pentagon this summer, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN, but it’s unclear if he discussed the remark with Tillerson.
Asked directly whether he’d ever called Trump a “moron,” Tillerson did not respond directly.
“The places I come from, we don’t deal with that kind of petty nonsense.” Tillerson said. “I’m just not going to be part of this effort to divide this administration.”
Tillerson said he hadn’t spoken to Trump on Wednesday. His statement came as the President was flying cross-country to visit survivors of Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Trump himself took to twitter after Tillerson spoke, stating: “The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!”
This story was first published on CNN.com “After ‘moron’ report, Tillerson reaffirms commitment to Trump.”
