Donald Trump confirmed early this morning that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be leaving his position and will be replaced by CIA director Mike Pompeo.
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
The Washington Post reported that anonymous sources in the White House said that Trump asked Tillerson to step aside on Friday, following clashes that led Trump to believe Tillerson was “too establishment.”
Pompeo, on the other hand, is an “ardent” Trump supporter who is so zealous that career CIA officials worried about his ability to do his job.
“It’s almost as if he can’t resist the impulse to be political,” one official told the Chicago Tribune.
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Tillerson did not publicly discuss LGBT oppression in other countries during his tenure as Secretary of State, but he drew ire from Christian conservatives because he did not end LGBT programs that the State Department was engaged in.
Last year, he issued a statement recognizing the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
“Transgender individuals and their advocates, along with lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex persons, are facing increasing physical attacks and arbitrary arrests in many parts of the world,” the statement said. “Often these attacks are perpetrated by government officials, undermining the rule of law.”
