Bob Corker: Rex Tillerson, Jim Mattis, John Kelly ‘help separate our country from chaos’

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker praised Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday and said he isn’t getting enough support from the Trump administration, and said Tillerson and other national security officials are playing critical roles in the administration.

“I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary [Jim] Mattis, and Chief of Staff [John] Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos, and I support them very much,” Corker told reporters Wednesday. “I see what’s happening here. I deal with people throughout the administration, and he, from my perspective, it’s an incredibly frustrating place. As I watch — OK, I can watch very closely on many occasions — he ends up not being supported in the way that I would hope a secretary of state would be supported.”

Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tillerson is in a “very trying situation, trying to solve many of the world’s problems” without support from within some corners of the Trump administration.

“They work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent,” Corker said of the three officials. “There are other people within the administration, in my belief, that don’t, OK? I’m sorry. I hope they stay because they’re valuable to the national security of our nation. They’re valuable to us putting forth good policies, they’re very valuable as it relates to our citizens feeling safe and secure. I hope he’s here for a long time.”

Tillerson and Trump have disagreed over foreign policy, and that appeared to come to a head in July after the president addressed the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia.

Many criticized Trump for delivering a speech that was too political. Tillerson, who was national president of the Boy Scouts from 2010 to 2012, was reportedly upset by the speech and threatened to resign. But Tillerson said Wednesday he never considered leaving.

According to a report from NBC News, the secretary of state also called Trump a “moron” after a meeting at the Pentagon in July.

Tillerson on Wednesday dodged questions about whether he called Trump a “moron,” but the State Department said he never used that word.

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