This story is developing and will be updated as necessary.
Donald Trump has ousted Rex Tillerson and will replace him with CIA director Mike Pompeo, he said in a tweet Tuesday.
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! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
“[Pompeo’s] experience in the military, Congress, and as leader of the CIA have prepared him well for his new role and I urge his swift confirmation,” Trump added in a statement. “I want to thank Rex Tillerson for his service. A great deal has been accomplished over the last fourteen months, and I wish him and his family well.”
Gina Haspel, who has been serving as deputy director of the CIA, will now take over, Trump said. She’ll be the agency’s first female director if appointed.
A statement provided by the White House Tuesday included remarks from Trump, Pompeo, and Haspel. But not Tillerson, who was scheduled to return to the U.S. from a diplomatic trip to Africa on Tuesday morning.
Steve Goldstein, under secretary of state, released a separate statement.
Trump and Tillerson have butted heads on a variety of national security issues, including the Iran nuclear deal. Pompeo, an ardent critic of the deal during his time as Kansas congressman, could find more common ground with the president there.
The two have also contradicted each other on North Korea, with Trump at one point tweeting that Tillerson is “wasting his time” on talks with Pyongyang. Pompeo’s nomination comes ahead of a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un that is slated to occur before May.
“I have gotten to know Mike very well over the past 14 months, and I am confident he is the right person for the job at this critical juncture,” Trump said in Tuesday’s statement. “He will continue our program of restoring America’s standing in the world, strengthening our alliances, confronting our adversaries, and seeking the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
On a personal level, Tillerson and Trump also did not seem to get along: Tillerson would not deny a report last October that he had called Trump a “moron.”
