Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday President Trump has asked him to rebuild U.S. ties with Russia.
“The president’s been clear to me: do not let what’s happened over here in the political realm prevent you from the work that you need to do on this relationship,” Tillerson said during a news conference in New Zealand.
Tillerson said Trump has “been quite clear” with him to make progress in the relationship with Russia, as the country is “an important global player.”
“Today, our relationship with Russia are at a very low point and they’ve been deteriorating,” he said. “The president asked me to begin a re-engagement process with Russia to see if we can first stabilize that relationship so that it does not deteriorate further, and then can we identify areas of mutual interest where perhaps we can begin to rebuild some level of trust, some level of confidence that there are areas where we can work together.”
When Tillerson was asked if he was worried if the investigation into Trump campaign team’s ties with Russia could take down the administration, he said, “I can’t really comment on any of that because I don’t have any direct knowledge.”
The FBI has been investigating Trump for his ties with Russia’s involvement in the 2016 elections. On May 9, Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey, who is set to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.
