Sen. Coons: “It's vital to our national security that our secretary of state be able to speak with our allies and adversaries and have them know that he speaks for the president and the United States”
Sen. Coons: “It's less about the private disagreement than about whether our secretary of state can advance our national security interests through diplomacy”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe this morning to discuss Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“There's lots of places around the world where some of the most senior positions in the State Department, we don't have anyone in front of the Foreign Relations Committee nominated. That may sound like I’m getting in the weeds, but that's who does the diplomacy,” said Senator Coons. “I think there are structural challenges here that are making it hard for the State Department to do its job, and I think that Secretary Tillerson needs to look closely at whether or not he's able to make a difference and able to move forward in what is his important role in this administration.”
Full video and audio available here.
Excerpts from the interview
Senator Coons on Secretary Tillerson: I'm less concerned about what private disagreement Secretary Tillerson and President Trump had than with their public disagreements. It's vital to our national security that our secretary of state be able to speak with our allies and adversaries and have them know that he speaks for the president and the United States. So when Secretary Tillerson goes out to undertake a difficult and delicate diplomacy about North Korea, for example, and the president undercuts him with a tweet saying he's wasting his time, or when Secretary Tillerson tries to advance a very tough budget that cuts more than is wise and the Senate rejects it on a bipartisan basis, these are both difficulties that Secretary Tillerson has faced. It's not surprising to me that he and President Trump aren't very close and warm, because they're both big men, big personalities, they've been successful CEOs in business and so the chemistry hasn't exactly gelled between them. To me it's less about the private disagreement than about whether our secretary of state can advance our national security interests through diplomacy.
More on Tillerson: I think that's a decision that the secretary and the president need to reach. I am gravely concerned about morale in the State Department, about unfilled senior positions as I mentioned, the conflict that we have emerging with North Korea is probably top of his list, and yet, we don't have an assistant secretary of state for East Asia, we don't have an ambassador to South Korea - there's not even a nominee for those positions. There's lots of places around the world where some of the most senior positions in the State Department, we don't have anyone in front of the Foreign Relations Committee nominated. That may sound like I’m getting in the weeds, but that's who does the diplomacy. I think there are structural challenges here that are making it hard for the State Department to do its job, and I think that Secretary Tillerson needs to look closely at whether or not he's able to make a difference and able to move forward in what is his important role in this administration.
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