is tillerson about to quit? every time it happens, there's staunch pushback from the state department, and often from the white house, this is not true. but the issue is the per tension that it is true underminds the secretary's ability to portray himself as speaking on behalf of the united states and on behalf of the president. and that is something that is a lingering damage to his ability to do his job whether or not turn out to be disputed one side over the other. >> this is part of a broader pattern where you'll recall, you have the most recent example with north korea, but we were talking about this during the saudi-led blockade of qatar as well. where he downplayed the notion that qatar was a sponsor of terrorism. then hours later the president was in the rose garden playing up the same issue and sort of supporting saudi arabia's actions. i think that also as others have sa said, the president does not have north korea's ear. >> and tillerson is hard to get ahold of and doesn't return a ton of phone calls

he's publicly in effect attacked rex tillerson saying that it's useless for rex tillerson to try to do anything diplomatically with north korea. and so, in a way, there's an unsurprising component of this much friction between the president and his cabinet. >> exactly. and this friction is nothing new. remember, secretary tillerson refusing to disavow the reports that he called the president a moron, that's not the first time he's opted out of going on the record defending the president. back when the charlottesville events happened, secretary tillerson refused to defend the way the president responded to the death there and the ensuing chaos. that's something that was very much noted in the white house. additionally, some of secretary tillerson's closest allies has, spokesman hammond and chief of staff peterland have built up significant groups of enemies in the white house. they're not well loved there. and secretary tillerson himself hasn't necessarily done the work that you would expect from a washington outsider to develop allies in congress which is why you aren't hearing many fo

i'm a rex tillerson fan. there is a trip coming up and the president will need his secretary of state by his side to help him with that trip. this is not the best time to make a change at the state department. you have to remember everybody who served in the cabinet or white house position serves at the pleasure of the president in the time being, no security in appointment to the office. your job is not to suck up to the president and try to eastrn his pleasure. your job is to speak the truth to the president. words do matter and people should be careful with words they use. i'm always telling the president he should be more careful. the same applies to the members of the cabinet and senior white house staff as well. >> david, you have sources around the world. i am curious, other diplomats, how do they view rex tillerson and how do they view the relationship between the president and rex tillerson and is it a relationship the world thinks is going to be repaired? >> tillerson generally gets good reviews fro

i have spoken many times to rex tillerson. he's been very positive to the president in private conversations with me. i would be surprised if he wasn't in other conversations. >> i'm going to leave it there. thank you for coming on and sharing your views. >>> still ahead, what is next for rex? secretary tillerson says he's not considering resigning from the state department. but after his reported comments about the president, can the secretary keep his job, and should he keep his job? we'll talk about that next. this woman is laughing because she's listening to a hilarious audiobook on audible. and this woman is laughing because she's pretending her boss's terrible story is funny. still actually laughing. no longer making a human noise. experience the comedy, not your commute. dial star-star-audible on your smartphone to start listening today. hey. what can you tell me about your new social security alerts? oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the k

rex tillerson giving a press conference. and after all of that, he went out in that press conference and pointedly and deliberately did not deny calling the president a moron. nbc news reports that the secretary's refusal to deny that he had called the president a moron in his opening statement and in his responses to questions from reporters stoked trump's anger and widened the rift between the two men officials said. and here is a picture of that rift. here is the president in las vegas yesterday. acting as if he wasn't bothered at all. by rex tillerson and the president is a moron story. >> i'm very honored by his comments. it was fake news. it was made up. made up by nbc. they just made it up. thank you so much. total confidence in rex. i have total confidence. thank you very much, everybody. >> after watching the secretary's response wednesday, one white house official said when tillerson didn't deny it, i assumed it was true. tonight, the president made some of the most bizarre comments he has ever made to the news med

bob corker today sticking up for rex tillerson talking about how the trio of men -- rex tillerson, secretarynd h.r. mcmaster -- project to the world the stability that our tweeting president does not. >> i think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. and i support them very much. i see what's happening here. i deal with people throughout the administration. and he, from my perspective, is an incredibly frustrating place where, as i watch, okay, and i can watch very closely on many occasions, you know, he ends up not being supported in a way that i would hope a secretary state of would be supported. and that's just from my vantage point. >> tillerson, mattis and kelly are separating this country from chaos? do you mean from the president's chaos? >> it's just they act in a very -- they work very well together to make sure that the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent. there are other people within the administration, in my belief, that don't, okay? i'm sorry. so, i mean, i hope, you kn

tillerson is not.nk very highly of tillerson, i've known him for a long time, i don't think he's effective at all in this administration. respectfully i don't consider him to be one of the adults that's keeping the united states from crisis or world war iii. there are others who could be more effective in this job and tillerson should go. >> the timing is one question i have for you, tony. what is more troubling, a secretary of state that doesn't have the confidence or isn't effective because he doesn't have the confidence of the president or a vacancy right now? >> kate, i think there's a laermg problem here that goes beyond secretary tillerson. there's been some speculation that the president has been engaged in an elaborate good cop/bad cop routine and i think what we're seeing is the president is a rogue cop. the administration speaks with one voice except for the president on issue after issue. whether it's north korea, where virtually everyone including tillerson has tried to get them to calm the

pts undercutting's rex tillerson's atte m pts to undercutting's rex tillerson's attempts to reach outflict between rex tillerson and donald trump going in different directions. it has raised a lot of people questioning as to why rex tillerson is sticking around, the head of cows will and foreign relations today said that to listen should resign, and that was probably why he came out, saying he was sticking with the administration, there are two acting secretary is right now, with homeland security, at the senior most cabinet level, saying that would be astounding for this young presidency. let's clear away the controversy around mr tillotson and around the things that donald trump said costa rico. the argument with the nfl, and so on. if we clear all of this way, what is the trump administration doing rather than just having fights with the media? looking at the nuts and bolts of the regulations, and what barack obama bolts of the regulations, and what ba rack obama tragedy bolts of the regulations, and what barack obama tragedy in his administration, try to do with the environment an

well, tillerson won't say those things. he won't go so far as to point out even a single thing that is helpful about some statements that the president had mas made when tillerson is asked directly about them. so there is no secret that he has been frustrated. that it's been hard for him to do his job at times. and we heard this coming from foreign diplomats who have had conversations with him, who have been in the room when he's been undermined by the president's tweets, at the very moment that a meeting is going on. we hear this from friends of turls tillerson who don't deny the rumors that he might leave at some point. it's not ever been to a point where we've heard directly that he's on the very brink of leaving or something like that, but we've heard from friends of tillerson, that he is not happy in washington. we've heard this from more than one friend of his. so, we know he has frustrations. i don't think he's hidden those very well. but today, i think you have to ask yourself, how much did the white house, not the

she said that rex tillerson, this morning rex tillerson he would not get into that, he would not get into petty gossip. heather nauert saying he did not use that language and he did not consider resigning. i think we were reporting he threatened to resign, whether or not he considered it was in his own mind. nbc's peter alexander is at the white house, he went directly to the white house to talk to the president. does it look like his job is safe? >> reporter: well, i guess that remains to be seen, the president appeared to be sufficiently satisfied by what he heard. he said that the secretary of state effectively refuted nbc news's reporting, but again, we didn't hear that same point made by rex tillerson earlier today, he said he wasn't going to address these sort of petty matters here. but to be here, the secretary of state katie said that the two men were on the same team and shared one mission, but it's obviously they're not on the same page and i point to what happened just a matter of days ago, you remember the secretary of state when he was overseas working on his diplomatic

it's not rex tillerson's problem.more the problem of the president of the united states not understanding how to be effected himself as the commander in chief. >> so ambassador burns we are where we are. what is the best case scenario. is the best case scenario rex tillerson leaving which of course under normal circumstances he would? and us basically rolling the dice on whether steve bannon acolyte would be our next secretary of state. we heard some of the names floating earlier during the transition or having rex tillerson hold on knowing that he's working closely with secretary mattis every day. >> at a normal time you'd have to say he would have to re-sign but this is not a normal time and the president has the north korea crisis on the front burner. he has to go to asia in november and have tough meetings with xi. it's better for the president and the country that secretary tillerson stay. i think he and secretary mattis, they're the block force preventing president trump from doing real damage to this country if

tillerson? >> mm-hmm. >> not well at all. this was as we reported at the time, many presidents do go to the jamboree, but no president has ever used that jamboree to make a political speech like president trump did. and the boy scouts were extremely unhappy with it. boy scouts leagues were unhappy and so was mr. tillerson. >> this was senator corker, republican of tennessee, chairman of senate foreign relations and interestingly a guy who has said i'm out, i'm not going to run for re-election. so politics can't be hung over his head unlike so many of his senate colleagues. this is what he said today about his circle -- it was men he mentioned -- around president trump. >> i think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. look, i see what's happening here. i deal with people throughout the administration, and he from my perspective is an incredibly frustrating place. as i watch -- okay, and i can watch very closely on many occasions, he ends up no

tillerson kept pushing back. recertify as the state department recommended, as the u.n. weapons inspector said iran was complying with the narrow terms of the agreement, it was done at quarter to midnight that letter went out. that showed right away that there was huge pushback from mike flynn and others in the nsc. and then still with mcmaster, that relationship fraught because of tension with the president's view on iran and qatar/saudi arabia dispute, which kushner and others had pushed and the president embraced, just undercutting. this weekend what happened with china, here, tillerson was on a quick trip to china, trying to placate the chinese in advance of the president's big trip to chiena telling them we're working on diplomacy. and the white house was furious that he said there was a back channel. >> the reporting of what we know about this. when the vice president and general kelly beckoned him to stay, was that on behalf of the president? did the president send them to him or did they do that themselve

vice president mike pence and tillerson talked about and that led to tillerson's remarkable press conference yesterday morning, when he denied threatening to quit. but not -- but that he did not call trump a moron, he didn't deny that. this morning, president trump aimed his fury publicly, at least, at nbc. he said, rex tillerson never threatened to resign. this is fake news put out by nbc news. low news and reporting standards. this afternoon, the press secretary sarah huckabee sanders was asked about nbc's reporting that tillerson insulted the president. let's watch. >> was the president upset that his secretary of state didn't deny calling him a moron in his public remarks yesterday? >> look, as the secretary of state said, this is a petty, ridiculous accusation and frankly, i think it's beneath the secretary of state to weigh in on every rumor out there. his spokesperson, however, did come out and clarified that the secretary of state had never used those words. >> and what's your response to those who say the president has undercut the secretary of state? sara, just quickly? >> i think

that tillerson's don't break the mold. and yet he's praising the president. he also said, you know, we're just getting started. to try to send the message that he's not going anywhere. he denied that he was never intending to resign. that our reporting shows that he absolutely intended to resign and was very frustrated in july. interestingly, he did not deny calling the president a moron. he said he wasn't going to engage in that sort of petty talk. and he didn't understand it and he's not from d.c. and so he dodged that. overall, you know, i think the question now is was it enough for donald trump? >> i think the other part of the question is is it enough for world leaders as well who are watching this relationship unfold here? joel ruben and josh leiderman i'll have you answer the question that carol posed. was it enough for donald trump, will it be enough for the rest of the world? >> well, it certainly won't be enough for the rest of the world. the secretary put his credibility on the line here right now and it's only

and tillerson hasn't had a public profile.ely given any interviews and certainly hasn't spoken or been pub on any of the world issues, the iran deal or north korea negotiations. this is indicative of the u.s. diplomacy being high j ja hijac president. >> don't waste your time, rex in dealing with the north koreans. he's the secretary of state. he's entitled to have communications with hostile forces. he's been told like a dog pulled back on a leash. >> save your energy, rex. >> what's the point? i think this moron talk is not isolated. it's part of the attitude towards each other. >> i reported six weeks ago that the president said to at least two people in the white house quote, rex just doesn't get it. he's totally establishment in his thinking. trump has been criticizing trump privately for some time. the relationship is frayed. he has, as far as i can tell, approximately two allies in the administration, general mattis and to probably some extent general kelly. if you can find me one other person in the white house who wil

leading to headlines that tillerson should quit. >> i bet tillerson does really have to ask himself thehether he should be staying in this position. >> administration officials are trying to calm the turmoil. vice president pence saying he never discussed resignation with tillerson, but in the criticism of the president, senate foreign relations says tillerson, mattis are helping separate country from chaos. jasmine. >>> let's turn to business where u.s. futures are pointing to a flat open this morning. day after markets closed at record levels and amazon being ordered to pay millions over back taxes in europe. for more on that, joins us live from london. good morning. let's start with the markets. >>> good morning. yes, big day for u.s. stocks. third day in a row they've posted record highs. this is despite some of the views you just referred to on amazon. netflix did help lead shares higher. on the back of stronger data we've seen. also very strong manufacturing numbers earlier in the week. and all eyes on nfp number this is friday. across we did have big news with amazon. they have b

the president was seen as undermining tillerson over the issue of qatar and then tillerson was back trying to push the president in a direction he didn't want to go on terms of recertifying the iran nuclear deal. there were a number of -- there was afghanistan policy meetings, which is what the -- was around the time when tillerson referred to the president as a moron in front of some of his colleagues, including cabinet officials and white house officials. and at that time there was this effort to try to reset this relationship and reset tillerson's position, and there was kelly and mattis and vice president pence who came in and said -- gave him a pep talk but said, look, you have to get on the same page as the president in terms of his policies if this is going to move forward. so there was this sense that things were going to get better, and yet they sort of didn't. you saw at the end of august the president was very upset that tillerson didn't defend him in his view enough or at all after he -- on his comments on the violence in charlottesville. tillerson said the president speaks for

this issue with tillerson is falling on his shoulders. he is a tillerson ally.e supports the secretary of state. that left many wondering how long john kelly himself can stay in the position. the white house is pushing back on our reporting. the reporting specifically it was john kelly who had to intervene with the president and rex tillerson. actually had to talk the president down a bit from the public attacks on tillerson. yesterday in the white house press briefing, sarah sanders said we should not believe the media reports, but only believe what is coming from the white house. listen to what she said. >> nothing has changed despite what you may read in the media or watch on tv. i would certainly trust the president and my comments far above those of other reporters. >> reporter: there is no doubt that things are rocky right now between tillerson and the president. particularly because tillerson was quoted saying the president was a moron. although both sides said that did not happen. anytime someone publicly criticizes the president or reports get out in th

he thinks tillerson is on the wrong side of a number of issues. the iran deal, the paris climate accord. one of the rare wins for tillerson, if you will, at this point in the administration, was maintaining the status quo and a slight increase of a number of troops in afghanistan, which you'll recall only came about after tillerson, secretary mattis and others had to have a tutorial for the president at the pentagon, explaining to him why this mattered, why it mattered that america have a robust presence across the world. this is someone the president -- he doesn't seem at this moment like he's willing to fire him, although that could change at a moment's notice, but it seems rex tillerson is now in jeff sessions' old chair, the cabinet member who is taking an unprecedented, public scolding from his president. >> so bob acosta, we have mattis counseling the president and tillerson to stay together for the sake of the kids, in effect. on the corker front, my question to you is, anything other than a chorus of crickets following corker's interview a

he was asked about tillerson now in the wake of our report that tillerson back in july at the end ofeeting at the pentagon referred to the president as a moron. the president has said since then that he still has confidence in him, but during our conversation just now, he said that at times he would like to see tillerson be a little bit tougher. as we look at pictures of the president arriving at joint base andrews, here's part of what he said just a short time ago -- oh, i'm being told we don't have it yet. we'll have it momentarily. i'll tell you what he said about his chief of staff john kelly. he spoke of john kelly with effusive prads, saying he's a great know ma, the best person i've ever worked with and insisted that he would be here throughout the remaining seven years of his term, suggesting that he'll be back for re-election, that he would run again as well. those were some of the primary comments we heard from him on this day. we also asked him about harvey weinstein, given all the new headlines now, the acknowledgement of his mistreatment of women is insufficient, just th

tillerson tr

and i wouldn't blame tillerson if if he did quit.saturday tillerson reassured us: very reassuring. "we are probing, so stay tuned" is what my doctor says at minute 31 of my annual checkup. ( laughter ) just-- stay tuned. watch the tv. keep your eyes on the tv while i, uh, while i continue probing." ( laughter ) now, trump immediately undercut him, tweeting, "i told rex tillerson, our wonderful secretary of state, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with little rocket man dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, save your energy rex, we'll do what has to be done!" spoken like a true moron. ( laughter ) you realize-- sound like it a little bit. >> jon: a little bit. >> stephen: a little bit. sir, do what has to be-- do what has to be done? you realize you're tweeting threats of nuclear war to a mad man! remember what the father of the a-bomb, robert oppenheimer, said when he saw that first bomb go off: "now i am become death, frowny emoji." ( laughter ) now, this saber rattling by trump might sound nutty, but apparently nutty is exact

tillerson said that's not

so it's a tough way to go for tillerson. tillerson is trying best but when you have the president saying this is a north korea talking about they are talking war. it sounds like it to another country even though tillerson is working hard to keep that option on the table of peace. >> scott, if you are another country, if you are kim jong-un and tillerson is saying we have some negotiation ability or we're willing to work with you diplomatically and then the president is saying throw that out the window in a tweet that's public for all to read, why would anybody want to negotiate with rex tillerson? >> i think they have because he's the secretary of state of united states. >> that doesn't mean anything. >> he's the president's designated representative on the world stage so you have to talk to him and take him seriously. again, the president's tweets here may not be helping his credibility but that doesn't undermine his position as representing the most powerful military and country on the face of the earth. i don't know about

the odyssey of rex tillerson. oh, my gosh, bill kohn, i know there have been disputes between defense secretaries and secretaries of state. classically, schultz and wi weinberger. we've seen the kissinger state department, secretary rogers, secretary vance not getting along with brzenski. >> first of all, let me say a word about rex tillerson. he is a serving man, a substantive man and a good man. i think he's been undercut from the beginning. not able to pick his own jeopardy, which one would think if you're giving up a very big career with exxonmobil, leading one of the biggest companies in the world, and then having to deal with the tax implications of accelerating all he was going to get in the future, that's a real commitment on his part. he's a real patriot. but he's been undercut from the beginning. and i think time after time he's tried to engage in diplomacy, and the president has undercut him. so this normally takes place inside the administration. no cabinet head likes being overruled by the president,

tillerson saying the u.s. is trying to stay in the iran nuclear deal and the secretary reaffirmed diplomacy is the president's goal with north korea. >> he has made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts. and we are. the dip wlomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops. >> here is more with cnn's jake tapper. >> you said recently that iran is in technical compliance with the deal. but president trump said on friday, that the iranian regime quote committed multiple violations of the agreement. which is it? is iran in technical compliance or has it committed multiple violations? >> the answer is both, jake. under the nuclear agreement, jcpoa, multilateral party agreement, there have been a number of technical violations. carrying too much inventory, materials to construct center fujs. iran has a significant period of time to remedy those violations so they have remedies the violations which brings them back into technical compliance. i think that demonstrated pattern of always walking righ

tillerson, obviously. i mean, it's not considered a partisan event. >> andrea, i have a clip for you to watch. this was senator corker, republican of tennessee, chairman of senate foreign relations and interestingly a guy who has said i'm out. i'm not going to run for re-election, so politics can't be hung over his head, unlike so many of his senate colleagues. this is what he said today about the circle of -- it was men he mentioned around president trump. >> i think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis, and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. i mean, look, i see what's happening here. i deal with people throughout the administration, and he from my perspective is an incredibly frustrating place. as i watch, okay, and i can watch very closely on many occasions, i mean, you know, he ends up not being supported in the way that i would hope a secretary of state would be supported. and that's just from my vantage point. >> andrea, that was a jaw drorp to me today

hold on there, tillerson!ody calls our ( cheers and applause ) and other world leaders and, ultimately, history. ( laughter ) but, here's the deal: why would tillerson say such a vicious, accurate thing about his boss? ( laughter ) well, apparently tensions came to a head around the time trump delivered a politicized speech to the boy scouts, an organization tillerson once led. that's what made him mad ( laughter ) saying "they're fine people" at a nazi rally? eh. giving golf trophies to hurricane victims? sure. but the jamboree is sacred. ( laughter ) tillerson was proud to be the leader of the boy scouts. do we have a photo? there he is! there he is, sitting next to the nation's most powerful butterscotch baron. yes. of course, donald trump is dealing with huge issues right now-- puerto rico, las vegas, sadly, north korea-- so, naturally, he kept his eye on the ball and let this tillerson story pass. i'm just kidding. ( laughter ) this morning, he tweeted, "nbc news is #fakenews and more dishonest than even

leading to a chorus of headlines that tillerson should quit. >> i think secretary tillerson really does have to ask himself the question whether he should be staying in this position. >> reporter: and the vice president saying that he never discussed resigning with tillerson. senate foreign relations chairman [000:12:57;00] tillerson, kelly and mattis are, quote, helping separate our country from chaos. lester? >> andrea mitchell, thank you. >>> as the white house deals with that fallout in congress there are growing calls for a ban on bump stocks, the devices the las vegas gunman used to turn his semiautomatic weapons essentially into automatic machine guns. and as our chief white house correspondent hallie jackson reports, some prominent republicans tonight are signaling that they are open to a ban. >> reporter: president trump today argues now is not the time to talk gun control. >> we're not going to talk about that today. we won't talk about that. >> reporter: the president visiting vegas where some 22,000 people experienced the deadliest shooting in modern u.s. history. dianne fei

secretary of state rex tillerson is on an overseas trip this week. meeting with world leaders and discussing u.s. relations with each country. earlier monday, he made an unannounced visit to bagram airfield in afghanistan. here is a look at his brief remarks. tillerson: i want to start by thanking the president and the chief executive and the afghanistan leadership for meeting with me this morning. i thought it was very important to stop here in afghanistan, coming to the south ager region region as part of the recently announced south asia policy and strategy president trump has put forth. i want to thank ambassador lawrence and general nicholson for their leadership and the incredible military effort of the men and women in uniform here, as well, and all of the effort they put forth to work towards a peace, which is really our objective. i think the u.s. has made it clear in terms of our support for afghanistan, the support for a sovereign, unified, and democratic afghanistan, starting it has to peace, prosperity, and self-reliant. -- we are not ha

leading to a chorus of headlines that tillerson should quit >> i think secretary tillerson does really have to ask himself the question whether he should be staying in this position. >> we heard "washington post" columnists referring to him as a loyal dog. it can't be an easy time for rex tillerson, especially after years as a ceo >> no, and there are these reports from nbc that he threat threatened to resign back in july due to pressure there's been discussion over the last two months about whether there's a growing divide between the state department and the white house. this is not the first time that donald trump yun cundercuts som his efforts. >> in qatar he came out and said one thing, had close relations with people in qatar, then trump said we don't like qatar >> i was having a chat with kurt volcker, the u.s. representative to ukraine and works for the state department, and i wanted to address these things with him head on. here's what he to say. >> i don't think there'ses did grimt betwe there's disagreement the trump administration extended sanctions on russia because of its

also reports that you and secretary tillerson are at odds. politico says world war inside the administration. your response? >> it's so dramatic. sometimes secretary tillerson and i have differenting opinions. when we come to nsc, everybody has different opinions. at the end of the day, we present the president with the facts. let him make the decision. we all as a team go out and support that decision. i have my relationship with secretary tillerson, general mattis, anyone else. we're alling looing out for the best interest of america. >> we played the clip from bob corker earlier. he told the washington post, when you jack the legs out from under your chief diplomat, you cause all that to fall apart. us working with beijing is effectively the key to not getting a binary choice. when you publicly castrate your secretary of state, you take that off the table. how do you respond? rnlgt i think that is his opinion. i can tell you what i i have seen secretary tillerson and the president work together. they work through things. if there is an iss

and rex tillerson does not promote the pr of donald trump.e promotes the diplomatic relation of the united states in any other country. >> think about rex tillerson a year ago, running exxon, traveling around the world, ready to retire, hang out with the boy scouts and now he's sitting next to trump going, am i really doing this? >> what we're seeing play out is the after deez yak of power. why would rex tillerson, the ceo of exxonmobil, one of the largest corporations of the world, worth well over $100 billion, highly respected if not controversial especially in climate change circles. but this guy really did not have any reason to be subservient to donald trump. >> said his wife made him do it. >> it's not only rex tillerson. we've seen it with gary cohn and deena powell. the best thing that happened to these people is they get kicked out or leave so they can go on about their lives and pick up the pieces. rex tillerson needs to take the message and get out. >> you've got full shakespeare on us. >> i didn't want to say shakespeare because i

and i would also suggest that if rex tillerson still has his job after today, and every day it's a tillerson watch, it's because the president has his first asia trip. and the idea would be you don't fire the secretary of state right before you go to china. >> reporter: i think that's exactly right, andrea. obviously the stakes could not be higher as the president prepares to go on his first asia trip. former secretary kissinger is exactly the person he would want to talk to and seek advice from on that front. and we have been discussing for quite some time that while it does seem as though his relationship with secretary tillerson has become untenable, he really needs him. he needs stability, quite frankly, before he heads to asia and grapples with a whole host of presidential challenges, north korea, of course, being at the top of that list. we've seen tensions mount in recent days with the president lashing out at north korea and essentially floating the possibility of some type of military action. of course, all of our reporting points to the fact that diplomacy is still the path they're

can secretary of state tillerson remain? not if the president continues to undercut his pursuing a rational and sensible policy, and these talks were at least the beginning of such a policy. and my hope is that they will not only reconcile with each other but pursue a policy that aims at stopping a nuclear farm in north korea without the use of military force, which would be devastating. >> you talked about the importance of americans having confidence and trust in a secretary of state snmt. >> at this moment, i think many of us are wondering if he has the credibility of a serious person, which he is, if he's capable of peaceful negotiations with other nations, which he is. i hope to trust him like i do any other official, but it's a question mark. >> it sounds like you don't right now, senator? >> it's a question mark, because of the president undercutting him. that's what's so pernicious about the president's seemingly off-tweet remarks, without any apparent previous thought or analysis. if he lacks confidence in the secre

tillerson himself was frustrated. he had been undermined on other key issues including venezuela and mideast dispute. it also became personal. tillerson a lifelong boy scott was dismayed by mr. trump's comments at a boy scout gathering. >> who the hell wants to speak about politics when i am in front of the boy scouts. right? >> reporter: the president has been personally frustrated by tillerson's reluctance to defend his word on charlottesville. >> the two men spoke by phone. tillerson's spoke said they're good. despite the tweet this weekend, telling the secretary of state to quit wasting his time. he said today he has total confidence in him. >> i am honored. >> senator bob corker, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee said today that while some in the administration are trying to undermine tillerson's authority, it's tillerson along with defense secretary jim mattis and chief of staff john kelly helping to separate the country from chaos. anthony. >> margaret brennan. thank you. margaret. still ahead

president trump most recently seemed to undermine tillerson when tillerson was in china, it had justdirectly negotiating with north korea and the president sent out a tweet basically saying don't waste your time, rex. there is an obvious tension here. >> yeah, you can put a side the details of the actual flaname calling or the conflict and say this is a pattern for the administration where this is unusual and problematic workplace for many of the people working under president trump, particularly the alpha type that rex tillerson is, that's going to cause some conflict because donald trump is also that guy. and so he does undermine him at times. and this is a rule of this administration that you'll have to do this dance. and everything is a fight and every fight is public sochlt wh. so when the fight is public you have to come out and make amends in public. i think scott was right that was somewhat coordinated. but he's in good graces until he's not again. and the irony, on the issue of something like north korea, that is area most solid argument to say, look, what has not been worki

listen to secretary tillerson on these issues. last week there was the issue with north korea, reports that the secretary said there was a line of communication open with the north koreans. the president in a tweet in which he called the secretary of state wonderful mentioned he did want the secretary of state to negotiate with north korea but officials say that there was perhaps a misunderstanding there, that the u.s. and state department are not negotiating with north korea, instead it's the united states checking on the three american citizens who are imprisoned in north korea and that line of communication is with the secretary is referring to. >> harris: president trump started his day tweeting about the media, might have been an indication that the tillerson statement was coming. here is what the president tweeted. let's bring in chris stirewalt and editor of halftime report, always good to see you. this is a big important day for the president and people of las vegas and the nation as we go forth and trying to heal after wh

and the president had to reign in tillerson for negotiating with north korea and tweeted that tillersonhis time. and defense secretary of mattes that is a star in the trump line up not only contradetected the president but strayed away from his lane has he seems to do. and mattis told the senate that the iran nuclear deal is in our national intchlt but the president has not made a final determination on that issue. and for the ousted tom price. and speaker paul ryan tried apparently to persuade the administration to keep price despite his ethical issue and failures in the health care legislation. we have a president to be proud of. make no mistake of it. one of the problems is that his cabinet is not acting secretarial. it is time for them to give him the respect he sdefbs. and it is notice. this is from president eisenhower. only strength can cooperate. weakness can only beg. roll the video and that is it a base jumper right there. they fear nothing obviously. they jump off the side of the 4000 high mountain in norway and dangerously close to the jagged area the and captured by drones

tillerson in his martian. tillerson in his martian. we'll talk about ththththth sfx: road noise sfx: tires screeching sfx: horn honking daughter: daddy! we don't say words like that! ♪just let your love flow ♪like a mountain stream ♪and let your love grow loupe lou what do members of trump's cabinet do when they behave bad leechlt insult and open contradiction and ignorant behavior on the part of presidential cabinet secretaries was exceedingly rare and more rarely tolerated by the president. and president trump as we noticed does things differently. he's saying it seems to the wayward secretaries from time to time, that he is it big and strong enough to put up with insubordination. rex tillerson tried to tamp down reports of a rift between he and mr. trump. the secretary of state called the media to report he was not on the verge of resigning. tillerson was not convincing and asked if he had called the president a moron? >> i think it is most important part of the article to reaffirm my role to the position.

did rex tillerson bring his number 2 pencil? and was his possible replacement spotted at the white house today? >>> plus, red alert. thousands trying to outrun some of the worst wildfires in the history of the state of california. some burning through an area the size of a football field every three seconds. more than a dozen people already killed. >>> good afternoon. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we're going to start with breaking news in the pop culture lead. explosive allegations today against one of the most influential people in american popular culture, hollywood mogul, producer and now apparent sexual predator, harvey weinstein. "the new yorker" magazine and "the new york times" today breaking huge stories in which four of the most prestigious actresses of our time, angelina jolie, gwyneth paltrow, anna sore debt, stating that weinstein sexually harassed them. joining the ranks of ashley judd judd rose mcgowan. many other women, models, actresses, producers, journalists, instants who describe hideous behavior fr