Tillerson: ‘I didn’t want this job’
Rex Tillerson said the job of secretary of State wasn’t a role he sought out.
“I didn’t want this job. I didn’t seek this job,” Tillerson told the Independent Journal Review in an interview during his recent trip to East Asia.
When asked why he agreed to take on the position of secretary of State, Tillerson said his wife “told me I’m supposed to do this.”
{mosads}During the interview, Tillerson said he had never met President Trump before the election. After his victory, the president wanted to talk with Tillerson “about the world.”
“When he asked me at the end of that conversation to be secretary of State, I was stunned,” Tillerson said.
Tillerson later told his wife about the offer.
“I told you God’s not through with you,” he said his wife told him.
The former Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO added: “I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids.”
Tillerson said he serves at the “pleasure of the president.”
“My wife convinced me,” he said. “She was right. I’m supposed to do this.”
Tillerson was confirmed as secretary of State in February, despite a late effort by Democrats to slow down the nomination.
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