March 13, 2018

Rex Tillerson Out as Secretary of State

The president confirmed the change on what else, Twitter.

Andrew Harrer/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump has fired Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and replaced him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. The president confirmed the change on Twitter, minutes after the Washington Post first reported the news.

The Post reports that Trump asked Tillerson to step down on Friday. The announcement Tuesday comes one day after Tillerson said that Russia was “clearly” behind the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy.

During a White House press briefing Monday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to specifically place blame on the Russian government for the assassination attempt. She instead said the White House gave its “fullest condemnation” for the attack.

This is a breaking news post. We will update as more information becomes available. 

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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