State Department claims Secretary Tillerson is 'taking a little time off' amid rumors he wants to quit - Tillerson denies rumors

Alex Lockie
Business Insider
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 15:45 UTC

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Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, surprised reporters on Tuesday by saying Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was "taking a little time off."

When asked about the discrepancies between Tillerson's public schedule and his reported movements, and why the department hadn't updated the press on his whereabouts, Nauert said Tillerson "does have the ability to go away for a few days on his own."

"Just taking a little time off," Nauert said of Tillerson's unannounced absence. "He's got a lot of work. He just came back from that mega-trip overseas, as you all well know - many of you were over there with the G-20."

Asked why she didn't just say Tillerson was on vacation, Nauert said she didn't know the standard protocol for listing private days. She said Matt Lee, a diplomacy writer for The Associated Press, would probably know.

Nahal Toosi, a foreign-affairs correspondent at Politico, later tweeted that Tillerson had "GTT - Gone to Texas," adding that he was "fine and he's working 20 hour days, but just not in DC."

Tillerson's absence comes amid reports that he's considering leaving the State Department.

Comment: CNN says Tillerson wants to quit - more fake news?

Rex Tillerson is reportedly deeply unhappy with the operational style of the Trump administration and has allegedly expressed disappointment that his State Department has been neglected by the White House. Furthermore, Tillerson is rumoured to be looking to quit his job as Secretary of State and possibly he is looking to do so quite soon.

While the source of these rumours are unnamed sources who spoke with CNN, not often a fully reliable way of deriving information, in this case there have been public indications from the very beginning of the Trump administration that Rex Tillerson was not altogether happy in his new position.

Update: Tillerson has responded to the rumors by saying he's "not going anywhere" and plans to stay on as Sec. of State "as long as the president lets me."