Rex Tillerson Meets With Members of House Foreign Affairs Committee

WASHINGTON (The Washington Post) —
rex tillerson
Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with lawmakers for seven hours behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss his time in the Trump White House, a spokesman said.

Tillerson met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and staffers from the House Foreign Affairs Committee after a request from Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

“The discussion . . . covered a wide array of topics related to foreign affairs, the operations of the nation’s foreign policymaking apparatus and his tenure as Secretary of State,” according to a statement from the spokesman.

Tillerson appeared voluntarily, the representative said. Tillerson’s appearance for testimony on Capitol Hill was first reported by The Daily Beast.

The former Exxon Mobil CEO had an ignominious departure from Trump’s administration after he was fired by tweet in March 2018. He and the president disagreed broadly on foreign policy and had a series of contentious fights over personnel and policy, aides to both men said.

Trump has had a better relationship with current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The president has pushed for aides not to testify in front of oversight committees, calling them Democratic efforts to undermine his administration. Tillerson has largely stayed quiet since leaving office, making few public appearances and giving rare interviews.

In one interview with CBS in December, Tillerson said Trump was undisciplined, did not read or care about facts, and routinely issued directives that were against the law. Trump responded in a tweet that Tillerson was “dumb” and “lazy.”

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!