NBC News reported on Wednesday that Vice President Mike Pence and other top US officials stepped in to persuade Secretary of State Rex Tillerson not to resign during the summer to ease growing discord between President Donald Trump and the Secretary of State.
According to reports, Pence met with Tillerson in July to ease tensions over policy. Their meeting came only days after Tillerson, in a meeting with Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials at the Pentagon criticized the president and calling him a “moron,” NBC News reported.
NBC News claims Tillerson’s comment came after a meeting on Afghanistan in which President Trump compared “the decision-making process on troop levels to the renovation of a high-end New York restaurant.”
Meanwhile, Trump made a political speech to the Boy Scouts of American, an organization Rex Tillerson once led.
Tillerson had reportedly questioned whether or not to return to Washington from a Personal trip in Texas but was reassured after meeting with Gen. John Kelly, who is Trump’s chief of staff, and Defense Secretary James Mattis, NBC News reported citing four people with direct knowledge of the meetings.
Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning after the NBC news report, “Wow, so many Fake News stories today. No matter what I do or say, they will not write or speak truth. The Fake News Media is out of control!”
Over the weekend, Rex Tillerson said the US had direct communications with North Korea to see whether an open dialogue can ease tensions. The following day, Trump noted Tillerson was “wasting his time.”