Trump: Tillerson is ‘dumb as a rock’ and ‘lazy as hell’ – Washington Examiner

President Trump on Friday fired back at former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, by calling him “dumb as a rock” and “lazy as hell.”

“Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed,” Trump tweeted Friday. “He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!”

Trump’s tweet came after Tillerson said Trump often suggested doing things that were illegal. He also said Trump is a “man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read.”

“So often, the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do and here’s how I want to do it.’ And I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law,'” Tillerson said Thursday evening in Houston during an interview with former “Face The Nation” host Bob Schieffer, the longtime CBS journalist.

Tillerson and Trump had a strained relationship, but Tillerson characterized his 13-month stint at the State Department “one of the great privileges of my life” in his final letter to employees. Speculation about Tillerson’s departure from the administration surfaced months before he was finally fired, especially after it was reported Tillerson called Trump a “moron” in July 2017. Tillerson did not outright deny he used the term, but a spokesperson for him did.

Trump has used the term “dumb as a rock” to describe others, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and CNN’s Don Lemon.

Tillerson was fired from his post in March by Trump on Twitter, and Tillerson learned about it while in the bathroom a day earlier from chief of staff John Kelly. Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo was nominated to take his place.