tillerson: senator, i am. i think all of our allies and friends appreciate decisiveness, even if we make a decision they may not like or agree with, they appreciate decisiveness so it is clear where we are going. they certainly on the security front and in our shared battle against isis and counter terrorism, our moves have been very welcome. i find our relationships to be quite strong. my discussions with my counterparts, whether they are foreign secretaries, foreign ministers, it is very open, very frank about where we are agreeing, where we are not. there is a real common sense that the u.s. ally relationships are stronger today. we have our differences. we express them in different ways. there is clarity -- greater clarity to where we are going today than there has been in some time. that's what i hear. >> i hear the same thing. that decisiveness that you talk about has given be them in my judgment a lot stronger confidence in what they can expect of us. i saw confusion and real troubling view from their p

secretary of state rex till tillerson and u.s. secretary of defense for our annual meeting, australia-u.s. consultation .eld here in sydney this is a very important opportunity for australia and shareited states to perspectives and insights and discuss strategies and ideas in ways in we can continue to toperate and work together promote peace and stability and security in our region and globally. we are the strongest of friends and allies. we have a shared military going back 100 years. closely ase work as two nations can operate. anderms of promoting peace stability and security. just days after the shocking terrorist attacks in .ondon we stand resolute in our fight terrorism and to fight the poisonous ideology that gives rise to brutal attacks so often on innocent civilians. issue ofsed the counterterrorism activities that we've seen strains of islamic terrorism in our regions ongoing conflict in the southern philippines. matter of deep concern. region,discussed our southeast asia, our relationship .ith countries in our region w

tillerson's methedical efforts are clashing with white house demands. >> reporter: tonight rex tillerson'sstration out in the open. the secretary of state coming to blows with aides over filling dozens of vacancies. in a meeting tillerson made clear to reince priebus and jared kushner and senior adviser he wants to pick his own staff. white house aides describe the discussion as intense and uncomfortable blaming tillerson for the grid lock. a tillerson aid told cnn the secretary is working on a process of evaluating people on merit. the desire for political patronage does not overcome a lack of competence. >> we have this tradition of let's just bring in our tribe and our tribe will run things. almost none of these guys have a tribe. tillerson doesn't have a secretary of state tribe. he is building his tribe and like a lot of really good professionals i think there is an effort to make sure we get the right people in here. >> you really have had a tremendous life heading up one of the great companies of the world and doing it magnificently. >> the president hired the former ceo for his glo

>>> plus, are we about to see the rex tillerson rexit strategy from the state department? >> are you satisfied with your staffing? >> no, i would like to go faster. thank you. >> if tillerson isn't allowed to run his own state department, could he be asking, what's the point of staying? and later, reflecting on some words of wisdom from the women of the white house. >> we have to find a better way to talk to each other, to disagree with each other, to respect each other. >> this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now. >>> good thursday evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to "mtp daily." republicans are in some desperate need of leadership on the issue of health care. and today the president dropped a truly massive, inappropriate, and unpresidential mess into the party's lap at exactly the wrong time. by now, you've probably seen the tweets or presidential statements as the white house calls them, that i'm talking about. as members of his own party have pointed out, the president's statements about two of my colleagues here on msnbc are beneath the office he

here's rex tillerson today. >> mr.secretary, are you satisfied with the pace of staffing positions in the state department? >> no. i'd like it to go faster. thank you. >> a close associate of rex tillerson told the american conservative rex is just exhausted. he can't get any of his appointments approved and is running around the world cleaning up after a president whose primary foreign policy adviser is a 36-year-old amateur. back with us now, ambassador wendy sherman. ambassador sherman, there are reports from inside your old department of people going back and visiting who worked there in the past, and they see the furniture out in the hallways, empty offices, nothing happening, phones ringing with no people there to answer them, reports of foreign ambassadors saying they can't make contact with the state department, so they're going straight to the national security adviser. what's your sense of what's happening between rex tillerson and the state department and what is apparently the freelancing of jared kushner i

secretary tillerson also talked about sanctions against north korea, u.s.uba policy, and the paris climate accord. thetor bob corker chairs committee.

tillerson doesn't have a state department tribe.nse is building his tribe. >> reporter: the president hired former exxon ceo for his global deal-making skills. >> you have had a tremendous life heading up one of the great companies in the world and doing it magnificently. >> reporter: but so far, trump isn't giving his top diplomat free rein on foreign policy. while tillerson tries to mediate a dispute between qatar and other gulf currents, president trump has openly sided with saudi arabia. >> the nation of qatar, unfortunately has been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. >> reporter: trump has taken much of mideast policy, including the peace process, off of tillerson's plate, giving it to kushner, instead. and as tillerson seeks to reorganize his state department, the white house has pushed him to make major cuts, slashing a whopping 30% to his budget, shocking lawmakers who called the proemz a waste of time. >> my reaction is it's probably dead on arrival. >> reporter: tony blinken now cnn global affairs analyst says the

who is calling the shots, is rex tillerson or jared kushner?i's foreign secretary and his son-in-law. it turns out he was making secret deals with the allies. so churchill thought it was interesting that he was executed by mooussolini for doing that. we have chaos. who is calling the shots on u.s. foreign policy? jared kushner, the son-in-law? i've always had a problem with this nepotism thing. or is at this time president who should be overseeing the dividing calls of who should be or shouldn't be calling the shots? >> i think it is hard to say. the president is calling the shots. he had somebody, he is a person who is driving all the policy, all the decision making, the tone of this administration. i think if you had to put rex tilg or jared kushner in a room, i think it is jared kushner. he is the son-in-law. at the end of the day, rex tillerson has to take a back seat to jared. and the interesting thing is that jared has the huge portfolio that is growing by the day. he is also chief economic -- like so many other roles in the white house.

and what basically happened is tillerson yelled at destefano.e basically expressed a lot of frustration over the slowness and the pace of the hiring. tillerson is overseeing a really understaffed state department right now. it's taking a long time to get staff in place and he yelled at destefano. and he basically said, look, i want to have greater control over the people that join the state department. and what happened after that, basically, was that jared kushner approached one of tillerson's top aides and basically said, look, secretary of state tillerson can't behave this way. he can't act this way, it's inappropriate and they needed to find a solution moving forward. what i think this whole incident really underscores, though, is the degree of frustration that the secretary of state feels right now about just how things are going for him in this administration, about how hard it's been for him to hire people. >> a grown man taking marching orders from an inlaw of the president, john heilemann. >> well, yeah, certainly, look. he ran a compan

first, or host, secretary of state tillerson will share keynote remarks with us following additional remarks by ivanka trump, we will honor our eight wonderful heroes and hear brief remarks from one of them. after the event concludes, i'll invite you to pick up your own copy of the report. it is an honor to be here this morning with secretary tillerson and miss trump and i thank you both. and now, ladies and gentlemen, secretary of state, rex tillerson. >> thank you so much and welcome to all of you to the stapt department for this important event and particularly i'm honored to welcome members of congress and in particular, i want to highlight the leadership of chairman corker, who's with us from the senate foreign relations committee. this morning. thank you. i think this really illustrates the dedication to combatting human trafficking and the commitment of our country that we have this joint effort underway and i want to thank ambassador coppage for her 1 16-year career devoted to this issue. i also know she doesn't do this alone and we're grateful to her staff and the many, many

blaming tillerson for the gridlock.a tillerson aid told cnn, quote, the secretary is working on a process of evaluating people on merit. he wants to put forward the best candidate for the job. the desire for political patronage does not overcome confidence. >> we have this tradition, let's bring in our tribe and our tribe will run things. none of these guys have a tribe. tillerson doesn't have a state department tribe. so he in a sense is building his tribe. >> the president fired the former exxon mobile ceo for his global deal making skills. >> you really have had a tremendous life heading up one of the great companies of the world and doing it magnificently. >> but america's top diplomat doesn't enjoy the same. while tillerson tries to mediate a dispute, president trump has openly sided with saudi arabia. >> the nation of qatar unfortunately has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. >> trump has taken the policy, including the peace process of tillerson's plate, giving it to kushner instead. an

and we've just seen rex tillerson a "politico" report which rex tillerson was asked about today whetheris impatient with the pace of appointments. there has been leaks from the white house that tillerson is blocking these nominees and a lot of concern at the state department that it's because the white house is blocking his appointees. he was asked today about whether or not he is dissatisfied, this was a photo opportunity with a foreign minister. >> are you satisfied with the pace of staffing positions in the state department? >> no, i'd like to go faster. thank you. >> that is an epic statement from rex tillerson. to speak about, you know, someone who is terse with his words, no, i would like it to go faster, the pace of appointments. >> look, we have a lights on, nobody home situation at the state department and right now, you know, we have a budding crisis in north korea potentially, we have hot spots all over the world. one of those things is going to explode and there will be no one at the state department to help manage these crises other than secretary tillerson and his closest

she has become rex tillerson's most trusted aide.here we have seen her influence lately is on some big hiring decisions. the head of policy planning, she brought in the guy who is leading that. she introduced rex tillerson the man who would become the deck repair he -- deputy secretary of state. probably know more about secretary tillerson than me. he seems like an old-fashioned guy who gives his trust out, not exactly hand over fist. peterlin was identified to help shepherd rex tillerson through the nomination process and confirmation with the senate. she quickly gained his trust their. this was a time when she was helping him navigate his financial disclosure form. there were a lot of ethics concerns about how he would divest himself from his financial stake in exxon. she also managed how his response to senators would go. oliver: let's talk about the crux of the story. it is causing some ripples throughout the defense department. tell us what is happening internally. >> there are so much happening at the state department, so must

what do they want tillerson and peterlin to do differently?e of the big questions they need to resolve is people say, when you go into a meeting, it feels like you are siri. you are asked a question and expected to give a definitive response. there is no back-and-forth where they are looking for policy advice. people say, if they are going to win the hearts and minds of the state department, they have to have more of a free flow of conversation. and more of a back-and-forth. oliver: also in politics, isis. while world powers are getting closer to defeating the group, the future of syria remains unclear. here is editor matt phillips. matt phillips, your team and the politics section looks at what is happening in syria and the ongoing turmoil and what it could mean in the long run. how did you choose to look at the situation right now? matt: we have been talking about the fight to rollback isis for a couple years. now that they are basically surrounded, their capital, the capital of their self proclaimed caliphate is surrounded. it is being push

by way of rex tillerson, the secretary of state. he is now saying that the north koreans have released auto warm -- from jail in north -- north korea. if that's the case this young man has been saved 15 years hard labor in north korea from the university of virginia, crew up in cincinnati, ohio. his family has been caught between going public and staying private. worried day after day and hour after hour about their son's fate. according to the associated press, north korea has released the jailed american student otto. let's hope and pray that's the case. dennis rodman is in north korea as we speak. was there a connection? there could have been. we're waiting more details on this crossing the wires right now. we're trying to reach out to the family and get in touch with them. >> shannon: secretary tillerson is in the middle of remarks he is giving with another saudi arabiaian leader and that's where this comes from. as we await the jeff sessions hearing later today the attorney general facing a dizzying array of questions about his

everybody likes rex tillerson. will maybe start with mike and we will just go around, and you name your position and then we will have these folks go back and have a good day and we will have our various reports. mike? >> thank you, mr. president. privilege of my life is to serve as vice president to a president who is keeping his word to the american people who is bringing real change to our nation. president trump: thank you, mike. attorney general sessions: i would like to be here and celebrate this group. sure the rest of you understand, but law enforcement all across america very frustrated. they are so thrilled that we have an idea we are going to support him and walk together. theill lawfully fight to rising crime that we are seeing. you inn honor to serve that regard. you have sent to the exact right message and the responses fabulous around the country. president trump: great success 13, being thrown out and rapid numbers and they are being depleted. they will all be gone pretty sent. you are great, jeff.

this week, who denield the president's accusation. >> reporter: but did you tell secretary tillerson, " i'm sorry, the president was wrong." >> reporter: anthony, as for those staff delays, trump administration officials blame backlogged paperpaperwork and security clearances as well as congress for failing to agree to those nominees sooner. >> mason: margaret brennan at the state department. president trump's partial travel ban goes into effect tonight, restricting many visitors from six mostly muslim countries for 90 days. visa holders will be allowed in, but other visitors from those countries must have a close family or business tie to enter the u.s. cardinal george pell, the third highest ranking vatican official, was charged with child sex abuse today in his home country australia. the alleged assaults happened decades ago. seth doane is following this. >> i am looking forward, finally, to having my day in court. >> reporter: this morning, cardinal george pell was defiant as he faced reporters. >> i'm innocent of these charg charges. they are false. the whole idea of sexual abu

. >>> secretary of state rex tillerson wants to go easy on qatar.hours later, his boss speaks and says the exact opposite. we'll be back with more. i feel it everyday. but at night, it's the last thing on my mind. for 10 years my tempur-pedic has adapted to my weight and shape, relieving pressure points from head to toe. so i sleep deeply and wake up ready to perform. ♪ now through june 11th, save $600 when you buy select tempur-pedic adjustable mattress sets. find your exclusive retailer at tempurpedic.com. "america" by simon and garfun [ snoring ]ental) [ deep sleep snoring ] the all-new volkswagen atlas. seats seven, sleeps six. life's as big as you make it. >> the blockade is preparing u.s. and other international business activities in the region. it has created a hardship on the people of qatar. the blockade is hindering u.s. military actions in the region and the campaign against isis. >> the time had come to call on qatar to end its funding. they have to end that funding. and it's extremists ideology in terms of funding. i want to call in al

and secretary of state rex tillerson meets with the foreign minister of saudi arabia as the u.s. tries to ease the diplomatic crisis between that diplomatic kingdom and qatar, home to a military base. we begin with the fox news alert, president trump said to leave the white house to tout jobs in wisconsin. welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i am jon scott. >> heather: i am heather childress, the stage set for a high-stakes showdown, attorney general jeff sessions answering questions from committee members that will ring from the russia probe to the firing of james comey. the trump administration is trying to focus on work at the president elected to begin with, job creation and repealing and replacing obamacare. the president will leave the white house a short time from now to head to wisconsin to tout his initiative. >> jon: live at fox news coverage, we begin with chief intelligence correspondent catherine harris. >> we are less than two hours out from the testimony of attorney general jeff sessions, he will be speaking in front of the same intelligence committee th

be coming back here to this house foreigns affairs committee hearing with secretary of state rex tillerson. it should be resuming in just a few minutes. by the way, you can watch updates, watch reaction from the white house and others as we follow today's story on c-span and here on the c-span networks and this foreign affairs committee hearing by the house foreign affairs committee should be resuming in just a moment. live coverage on c-span3. >> the committee will reconvene at this time and we will begin with questioning from mr. barra from california. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary, for your patience in this reconvening. you know, it's -- you know, this is a tough day today. but it's with thanks to the capitol police, it's t

are going, tillerson is having his budget cut dramatically. the state department -- a lot of people object to the fact that soft power is being cut from the proposed budget and tillerson is getting a very big increase -- mattis is getting a big increase at defense. tillerson doesn't not only have has staff but department cut and importance being pulled from the state department. >> let's dig into this a bit more. in the associated rex tillerson, a 65-year-old guy but he is. this is an eagle scout who spent his entire career working his wa up the ranks at exxon-mobil. he's not somebody who even as a ceo accustomed to talking to the media. he talked to the boy scouts of america more than he did the business news. he finds hemself in the white house, he said early on his wife wanted him to take the job and he has been in the crosshairs with jared kushner, given assignments more like the de facto secretary of state and reince priebus blocked him appointing people ambassadorships and he has a skeletal staff. it's not necessarily a surprise that thi

if you're someone like ricks tillerson, it's amazing it's taken this long -- >> and rex tillerson, mikabeen working very well with secretary mattis. those two are in constant communication. they're trying to work through problems and yet they can't get the president of the united states to give them the people they need to make america strong, to make america safe because he's got this freakish idea that he's going to let his. >> you think about this administration, where is the bright spot for a lot of republicans and where is the one source of reassurance for a lot of democrats. you look at till areson, mattis, mcmaster to some extent. that's been it so far. if you start to frustrate, alienate they're the one thing that people look to and says that's okay, that looks all right, those are adults, they're in charge. >> and they're tullly making policy that counters what dpt -- >> this is play with fire -- >> everybody m washington in the administration needs to look at this from i think a point of view where you're not lobotomized. >> let's say someone came in to nbc and took over nbc a

secretary of state tillerson does have a good relationship with president trump.aily. he's over at the white house all the time. but that doesn't translate at least yet into broad -- a broad sense that the rank and file diplomats, the people who run the specialty bureaus, who have the specialty expertise are being really included and listened to. and the hiring freeze, and the lack of people in senior jobs at the state department has only compounded that. >> and on that topic, i'm sure you've seen the political piece that's out that talks about this apparent blow-up from secretary tillerson regarding some of this. some of the hiring issues, some of the personnel issues. how much of a cause for concern is that? >> well, that blow-up on friday afternoon appeared not long after we had published something that talked a lot about tension between the white house and tillerson's office over placing republican political people in jobs at the state department and how tillerson and his team have held off on doing some of what the white house wanted. that goes both ways, by

rex tillerson is not involved in many processes that he should be involved in.s of jared kushner, kushner and jason greenblat who is he traveling with, the other envoy, who also says he doesn't have a problem with settlements, doesn't see it as an obstacle to peace. he's a former property lawyer. and then there's jared kushner, his son-in-law. these three people are supposed to revive the peace process? palestinians say they will not come to the table until there is some clear understanding about what they're coming to the table for. is settlement building going to stop? netanyahu government has announced more and more settlement units despite the president saying take a pause on those settlements. >> there was a change in the succession plan for saudi arabia, typically something not too many americans would care about. but something you've written that may help the mideast peace process. >> whether it helps the middle east peace process or not, i think it is a big deal. mbs, the 31-year-old deputy crown prince in saudi arabia, now the crown prince of saudi arab

secretary tillerson says the u.s. will support efforts to mediate the crisis, along with kuwait.s will be held this month in geneva. that is according to a spokesman -- the human general assent the u.n. general assembly, which says the meeting will bring together leaders from both sides as well as the european union. the major issue standing in the way include security and how much territory each side will be assigned. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley continues her trip to israel, meeting with the defense minister. he thanked the ambassador for her strong defensive and support of israel, and presented her with a gift, a miniature high-heeled shoe, and called her the you -- the new u.n. sheriff. she said, israel is no longer the u.n.'s punching bag. president trump promises to streamline the permit process for infrastructure projects. the president called the current process a burden on the economy. >> no longer can we allow these rules and regulations to tie down our economy, chain up our prosperity, and sap our great american spirit. that is why we will lift

>> i think it's the tillerson aspects that seems to get going right now.ript that he canceled to mexico seems like there are serious talks underway, and there seems to be less evidence of that just a week ago, where the american position was less clear. the u.s.me time, , seeminglys to qatar supporting the qatari position. with tillerson in action and the uae minister saying they need that western support, it looks like something is going on with serious talks on the way. matt: how does this position the u.s.? from the middle eastern point of view, what is the u.s. position on this crisis, as we are simultaneously criticizing what's going on and selling them attack weapons? >> look, you are right. it is hard to tell exactly where the u.s. stands on this. tillerson has been from the beginning calling for moderation, for talks to get this resolved. he has excellent contacts from his time at exxon mobil and he is clearly using them to try and resolve this. president trump's position was also clear, but that seems to be significantly different from what tiller

he said nothing in defense of his policy or his politics or rex tillerson, which the comments that joe and mika were about. he did not defend himself. all he did was attack this woman. and i think the other thing to keep in mind is trump has a history of misunderstanding the role of the press. he said, remember, he did that event for veterans, i don't know if they ever got their money, but he was fund-raising for veterans and he said, why isn't the media celebrating me for doing this? that's not our job and it's not our job to celebrate you or applaud you. it's our job to be critical. and to ask questions. and especially when you give us this kind of fodder, we're going to examine and discuss its importance and put it in context. it's just unbelievable to me that this is a man who gets up every morning in a very nice address, he has five beautiful healthy children, billions in the bank, and yet is so -- and is president and yet is so insecure fundamentally that he wants to take the time out of his day to attack a woman's looks on twitter because that makes him feel good. it's just -- i

secretary of state tillerson saying this in a statement -- tillerson also demanding the release of threether american hostages who remain in the country. u.s.-north korea relations are increasingly strained. >> i believe that otto's death will have political repercussions. this was a crime against humanity. if there's more sanctions for north korea i'm for it. >> the regime of kim jong-un is so isolated that former nba player dennis rodman is perhaps the most visible diplomatic presence in the country. last week he made a strange timed visit to north korea. >> just want to open the door that's it. >> but officials insis rodman many no role in warmbier's release. in the case of ling and li accuse the of crossing the north korea border while filming a story. >> my sister lawrie and ling. >> laura's sister, the reporter lisa lang led a very public campaign for their freedom. they were only granted amnesty after former president bill clinton visited. >> the nightmare of our lives was finally to coming to an end. >> today she tweeted this -- tonight's warmbier's tour group say they will no lo

campaign led by secretary tillerson. military di mention is in support of secretary tillerson. we have a very open dialogue aggressive dialogue with the state department to make sure everything that we're doing, in terms of our military posture, is supportive of secretary tillerson's primarily economic and diplomatic campaign. many of you have watch closely what's happened in the u.n. two unprecedented sanctions regimes passed this year. that's primary way that secretary tillerson hopes to do that. in the the meantime, we have responsibility, we the department of defense, number one to deter any provocation by kim jong-un and to provide the president with a list of options in the event hostilities occur. what i want to emphasize the military dimension today is in support of the diplomatic and economic effort led by the state department. we have effective posture in the region to deter kim jong-un. >> speaking of north korea and china, it steams the president -- it seems the president trying to utilize newfound relationship with his counterpart in china. how is that impacting wh

saying this in a statement -- tillerson also demanding the release of three other american hostagesd. >> i believe that otto's death will have political repercuss n repercussio repercussions. this was a crime against humanity. if there's more safrpgss for north korea i'm for it. >> the regime of kim jong-un that former nba player dennis rodman is biggest diplomatic presence in the country. last week he made a strange visit to the country but insists had no role in warmbier release. in the case of ling and li accuse the of crossing the north korea border while filming a story. laura's sister, the reporter lisa lang led a very public campaign and only granted them nesty until d former president bill clinton visited. >> we were shocked but knew instantly in our heart that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. >> today she tweeted this -- tonight's warmbier's tour group say they will no longer organize tours for americans to visit north korea. his parents saying when he arrived he looked very un. could almost anguished within a day he was at peace. he was home. and we

it is a mess, this good cop bad cop thing between tillerson and trump.uitar. i'm sorry. i had to do it. i think the problem is consistency of message more than anything else. it's very much a sort of trump in europe saying that, who would not say the words for article five for nato but cited in the rose garden. if he was going to come around supporting article five and nato, if we are going to have this plan of qatar, let's have it. >> the question i have about trump's at about qatar did he know that we have thousands of troops in qatar, the headquarters of central command, the most important center of command -- me when the original tweets? >> the original tweet. he has a tendency to take in the last thing he heard, the saudis told him this. he went with it in a very unnuanced way which caused, i happen to know, a great deal of consummation in the pentagon. they are all allies in the the - qatar is problematic. >> bret: pretty firm statement saying we are with president trump. obviously the president has been with secretary mattis the past couple of day

the minister latched onto those words that rex tillerson used and said the demands we re tillerson used to forge a closer relationship with saudi arabia but also have a big military base in doha. so how do the act in the middle of this as an honest broker? what is interesting is the way the americans are behind the scenes on this. as you said they have a lot at sta ke, this. as you said they have a lot at stake, they key allies in fighting the war on terrorism as each others throats, and they have this big base in caparo which has been isolated by the others. and then last week you have the white house spokesman saying we think it is a family issue that they can sort out by themselves. without the americans trying to fix it. you have rex tillerson in the background trying to fix it with that meeting today with the foreign minister of qatar. we know that the saudi foreign minister is in town. my sense is he's going to see how things go through the week, what develops, whether these groups can find some manoeuvrability to find a solution and if by friday, the deadline, they have not, we w

tillerson, mr. secretary, we appreciate you being here. we're having a little bit of a discussion about the timing issue. we do have a lot of other things happening today, and i would really like to finish this in one round. so what i think i'm going to do without -- i think what we'll do, senator cardin, if it is okay with you, let's put six minutes on the clock. if we need to have a second round for some reason we will. i'm open to discussion about that right now if you wish. >> i think six minutes sounds fair on the first round. i don't want to preclude a member on either side that believes they need additional time for a second round from having that second round, but i would encourage our members to try to be efficient on the use of their time. >> so i want to begin by saying that last night about 10:20 we finished negotiating a russia bill to be attached to the iran bill, and we were able to gavel in the senate and have senate mcconnell file closure on it. i want to thank senator cardin and his staff along with my staff for what i th

here's rex tillerson today. >> mr. secretary, are you satisfied with the pace of staffing positions in the state department? >> no.

secretary tillerson: good afternoon. thank all of you for your patience. i know you have been waiting for a little while.