Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has received a lot of flak for being seemingly sidelined by President Donald Trump's administration, as well as mismanaging the State Department in general. Now, however, it seems that Tillerson's stock is rising with the president.
Tillerson has had more meetings with the president during the first twelve weeks of his administration than any other Cabinet secretary, according to a review of public schedules and interviews with White House aides conducted by Politico, including a pre-scheduled private dinner at once each week.
In March Tillerson was scheduled for an Oval Office meeting or meal with the president on eight separate occasions, usually for private discussions. There have also been a number of informal meetings in which Tillerson has talked with the president either prior to or following a National Security Council principals committee meeting.
In addition to his increased face time with the president, Tillerson has also received positive feedback from the president himself. After his news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, Trump called Tillerson to lavish him with praise for doing a "wonderful job" and for having "exuded confidence." The president also told Fox Business News anchor Maria Bartiromo that "Rex is doing an outstanding job. He’s got a great sense. Look, he ran ExxonMobil for many years and it was flawlessly run."
He added, "We're proud of him."
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