Outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson apparently became the first American Cabinet secretary to be fired over Twitter on Tuesday, when President Donald Trump announced the former ExxonMobil CEO’s impending departure at 8:44 a.m. Tillerson later said during a press conference that he received a call from Trump to inform him of the decision at around noon—three hours after the tweet.
Should the secretary of state have learned of his firing when everyone else found out—and through a tweet, of all forms of communication? “No,” said Republican senator Thom Tillis.
Others had to think about the question for a moment before weighing in. After a lengthy pause, Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan ultimately decided: “You know, it’s not the way I would do it.”
“Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service!” Trump wrote in his announcement.
Oklahoma senator James Lankford said he wasn’t certain of how, exactly, Tillerson found out about the decision and declined to comment. Tom Cotton also offered no comment, but he argued in response to another question that Tillerson knew about the decision in advance.
There were conflicting messages from the White House and the State Department about the timeline of the firing on Tuesday, with the White House insisting that Tillerson had been told of the move last Friday. Tillerson’s State Department, however, issued a statement asserting that the secretary “had every intention of remaining” in the role prior to being fired, had not spoken to the president about it, and was “unaware of the reason.”
The author of that statement, Steve Goldstein, was fired by the White House just hours later.
While the timing caught some off guard, Tillerson’s firing was months in the making. “We got along, actually, quite well, but we disagreed on things,” Trump told reporters Tuesday morning, citing the Iran deal as one area of dispute. Policy differences weren’t the only cause of conflict: In October, Tillerson looked as if he was on the way out when NBC reported he had called the president a “moron.” Tillerson did not deny that detail of the report in a press conference afterward, saying instead that he was “not going to deal with petty stuff like that.”
Republicans in Congress were quick to express support for Trump’s replacement pick, CIA director Mike Pompeo.
“Mike will do a great job there. I think Secretary Tillerson did a great job,” said Georgia senator David Perdue. “It’s a critical time with our relationship with China and what we’re doing in North Korea.”
Sen. Ron Johnson agreed, calling Pompeo a “first-class individual.” Asked about how Trump used Twitter in announcing Tillerson’s firing, Johnson said he “would have handled things differently.”
Johnson said he would like to see stability amid the shakeup, considering Trump’s recently-announced meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“Would you define this White House as stable?” a reporter followed up.
“Again,” Johnson answered, “I’d like to see a stable situation.”
Jenna Lifhits contributed to this report.
