The long-simmering tensions between President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson came to a head Tuesday, when the commander-in-chief announced the ouster of the country’s top diplomat with a tweet.
One political analyst told Cheddar the move was telling.
“It speaks a lot to the character of the two men,” commentator Rick Wilson said. “When Donald Trump was selling steaks, vodka, and a fake university, Rex Tillerson was building Exxon into the largest energy company in the world.
“The anxiety that Trump has about Tillerson being more competent than him has finally played itself out.”
Tillerson reportedly found out about his firing after Trump took to Twitter to announce that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would take over at the State Department.
The president later said he and the former ExxonMobil CEO “were not really thinking the same,” but that Pompeo had a “similar thought process.”
Still, the decision to remove Tillerson came hours after he voiced his support of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the British government, who on Monday said Russia was likely behind the poisoning of an ex-Moscow spy.
The Trump administration did not officially second those findings.
But Wilson said Tillerson was right to consider Russia “an imminent national security threat.”
“Donald Trump doesn’t see it that way,” he told Cheddar. “There’s something wrong about Donald Trump’s relationship and viewpoint about Vladimir Putin that makes him behave this way, even when serious and consequential people around him are warning him.”
The White House denied Tillerson’s dismissal had anything to do with Russia, instead saying it wanted to have new leadership in place before Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, expected this spring.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/no-collusion-and-tillerson-is-out).
State Senator Tom Umberg introduced legislation to regulate DNA data collected by popular testing services like 23andMe and Ancestry.com.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative announced last month that tariffs as high as 100 percent could be added to products such as Irish and Scotch whiskeys, Cognac, and Parmesan cheese as soon as mid-February.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
For the first time, China disclosed information about the effect of the virus on medical workers — 1,716 medical workers have contracted the novel coronavirus and six have died.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, February 14, 2020.
The former NYC mayor tried something different in the Democratic primary race so far, pushing memes on Instagram that left some potential voters and experts scratching their heads.
Activist and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Brendan Duff joined hip-hop star will.i.am to promote a new documentary about the tragic day and to stand up for young voters.
A Republican-led coalition of fossil fuel giants, environmental advocates, and former federal policymakers on Thursday issued a "Roadmap" to addressing climate change that, while labeled as "Bipartisan," is particularly aimed at garnering GOP support.
The World Health Organization Thursday pointed to a change in reporting, rather than a sudden acceleration of infections. But for many, it strengthened the concern that nobody really knows how widespread the illness is, and there appears to be no good way to figure it out.
The Senate has approved a bipartisan measure limiting President Donald Trump's authority to launch military operations against Iran. The resolution says Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action.
