U.S. Secretary of State Tillerson is set to deliver a statement to the media shortly, whose "topic is unknown" according to Reuters, although following today's report from NBC that he had called Trump a "moron" after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials, there is speculation that Tillerson will offer his resignation.
As we reported earlier, the tensions between Trump and the former Exxon CEO reportedly came to a head around the time President Donald Trump delivered a politicized speech in late July to the Boy Scouts of America, an organization Tillerson once led, NBC reported citing officials familiar.
Tillerson, who was in Texas for his son’s wedding in late July when Trump addressed the Boy Scouts, had threatened not to return to Washington, according to three people with direct knowledge of the threats. His discussions with retired Gen. John Kelly, who would soon be named Trump’s second chief of staff, and Defense Secretary James Mattis, helped initially to reassure him, four people with direct knowledge of the exchanges said.
At that time, however, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert responded to speculation that Tillerson was thinking about resigning by saying he was “committed to staying” and was “just taking a little time off” in Texas.
Just days earlier, Tillerson had openly disparaged the president, referring to him as a "moron" after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials. NBC notes that while it's unclear if he was aware of the incident, VP Mike Pence "counseled Tillerson", who is fourth in line to the presidency, on ways to ease tensions with Trump, and other top administration officials urged him to remain in the job at least until the end of the year.
Following the NBC report, the President of the Council of Foreign Relations, Richard Haas, called on Tillerson to resign:
Rex Tillerson has been dealt a bad hand by the Potus & has played it badly. For both reasons he cannot be effective SecState & should resign
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) October 4, 2017
to clarify: would be hard 4 anyone to do well as secstate given policy (leaving TPP,Paris), Potus tweeting, lack of staff & $, WH staff role
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) October 4, 2017
Should Tillerson indeed resign, it is unclear if it will be dollar negative or positive, as the rising risks of geopolitical escalation without the SecState to "buffer" Trump's id, will likely make the probability of geopolitical conflict greater, which however these days could be either good or bad for the dollar.