NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 28: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks to members of the security council during a meeting on nonproliferation of North Korea on April 28, 2017 in New York City. The growing threat of a nuclear North Korea is going to be the focus for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson while he chairs a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Donald Trump has challenged Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to compare IQ test scores.
Last week, it was reported that Tillerson called Trump a “moron” when he was deciding whether or not to resign from his post. Tillerson’s office has denied the claim, saying, “the secretary does not use that type of language.”
The president seemed to agree that the word was never spoken, but had a response in case it was true. “I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests,” Trump said in an interview with Forbes. “And I can tell you who is going to win.”
A reporter has since asked if Trump has confidence in his Secretary of State, to which he briefly responded, “Yes.” And when asked if he thought he had undercut Tillerson with his IQ comment, the president said, “No, I didn’t undercut anybody. I don’t believe in undercutting people.”
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Previously, Trump called on NBC News to apologize for reporting that Tillerson called him a “moron,” but the network refused, saying they worked hard on that story and that it wasn’t made up.
“The @NBCNews story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and @VP Pence. It is #FakeNews. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!” Trump tweeted at the time. “We stand by it. We’ve extensively reported on this. We talked to a dozen people for this story,” NBC fired back.
There is certainly volatility between Trump and Tillerson, who are scheduled to have lunch on Tuesday Oct. 10 with Secretary of Defense James Mattis. They bicker over the Iran Nuclear Deal, as well as the president’s dealings with North Korea. Trump recently publicly tweeted that he thought Tillerson was “wasting his time trying to negotiate” with North Korea, but then doubled back in Forbes. “He was wasting his time,” Trump said in the interview. “I’m not undermining him. I think I’m actually strengthening authority.”
Despite rumors, Tillerson will most likely stick with his position, at least for the time being.
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