Aaaaaand...Tillerson....Right on Cue

NBC News reported early Wednesday morning that Tillerson openly disparaged Trump as a “moron” after a July meeting at the Pentagon, and threatened to resign later the same month after Trump made a political speech at a Boys Scouts rally.

In an unscheduled statement to reporters Wednesday, Tillerson did not deny that he characterized Trump in that way.

“I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that,” he said.

Tillerson claimed NBC News’ report that he had to be talked down from resigning earlier this year was “erroneously reported” and said he has “never considered leaving” his position.

“My commitment to the success of our President and our country is as strong as it was the day I accepted his offer to serve as secretary of state,” Tillerson said. “To address a few specifics that have been erroneously reported this morning, the vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state, because I have never considered leaving this post.”

  TPM

Maybe not what some State Department people wanted to hear.

Nik Steinberg, a former speechwriter and counselor to former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power, on Wednesday accused Tillerson of “running the State Department into the ground.”

“I know far too many people at the beginning or middle of their careers — with many diplomatic tours ahead of them — who have decided they can no longer bear to serve in the current administration,” Steinberg wrote for Politico. “The U.S. government is quietly losing its next generation of foreign policy leaders.”

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.