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gldstwmn

(4,575 posts)
Thu May 23, 2019, 12:56 AM May 2019

Tillerson told lawmakers Putin was more prepared than Trump in Germany meeting

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told lawmakers that Russian President Vladimir Putin was more prepared than President Donald Trump for their meeting in Hamburg, Germany, putting US officials at a disadvantage, a Democratic House Foreign Affairs committee aide told CNN Wednesday.

Tillerson told lawmakers during a secretive meeting Tuesday that he was guided by "American values" such as democracy and freedom, but could not or would not offer an assessment as to whether the same could be said for Trump, according to the aide.
The source also confirmed that Tillerson said presidential adviser Jared Kushner did not consult with the State Department or other agencies before getting involved in foreign affairs, and that his naïveté put him at risk of being outmaneuvered.
Both details were first reported by The Washington Post.
(snip)

As you know, I am here today voluntarily in response to your request for my testimony. I chose to come back to Washington to speak with you today on a bipartisan basis because I understand and appreciate the critical role that Congressional oversight of the Executive Branch plays in our constitutional system," he wrote, according to a copy of the remarks released Wednesday.
"That role is especially important with respect to foreign affairs, where our position is strengthened when the world knows that we speak with one voice in protecting America's interests abroad," Tillerson added.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/22/politics/tillerson-lawmakers-putin/index.html

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Tillerson told lawmakers Putin was more prepared than Trump in Germany meeting (Original Post) gldstwmn May 2019 OP
More from the WaPo article: gldstwmn May 2019 #1
How could anyone be surprised by this? Tillerson is merely confirming what we already knew. LonePirate May 2019 #2
trump is never prepared for anything Gothmog May 2019 #3
The point that I see True Blue American May 2019 #4
they are all honorable men Nasruddin May 2019 #5
While I admit that BlueMTexpat May 2019 #8
:) You've just forgotten the enormous corruption. It's been awhile. Hortensis May 2019 #10
Correct! MyOwnPeace May 2019 #12
Say what you want about putin. His admin is functioning. Like Valdemort. lindysalsagal May 2019 #6
If this caught any BlueMTexpat May 2019 #7
The republican draft dodger was too damn busy squandering our tax money on golf Achilleaze May 2019 #9
This is why we have to give credit True Blue American May 2019 #11
Agree with this DeminPennswoods May 2019 #14
I know there was a problem with staffing True Blue American May 2019 #15
Tillerson reportedly was aloof and a loner DeminPennswoods May 2019 #16
And 45 is looking to repeat this fiasco at the G20 in Japan next month Tanuki May 2019 #13
Maybe to ask True Blue American May 2019 #17
Dirty Donny* (R) is meeting with Pooty Poot yet again? Achilleaze May 2019 #23
No surprise since Putin had been preparing for that meeting since at least 2015. tanyev May 2019 #18
trump prepares for nothing. moron-in-chief spanone May 2019 #19
Hmm. Puppet Donnie said he'd been "preparing all his life?" Kid Berwyn May 2019 #20
Putins no dummy GusBob May 2019 #21
And like clockwork... Catherine Vincent May 2019 #22
Oh he's getting hammered in the comments on that one. Initech May 2019 #24

gldstwmn

(4,575 posts)
1. More from the WaPo article:
Thu May 23, 2019, 01:04 AM
May 2019

Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin out-prepared President Trump during a key meeting in Germany, putting the U.S. leader at a disadvantage during their first series of tête-à-têtes.

The U.S. side anticipated a shorter meeting for exchanging courtesies, but it ballooned into a globe-spanning two-hour-plus session involving deliberations on a variety of geopolitical issues, said committee aides, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Tillerson’s seven-hour closed meeting with the committee.

“We spent a lot of time in the conversation talking about how Putin seized every opportunity to push what he wanted,” a committee aide said. “There was a discrepancy in preparation, and it created an unequal footing.”

(snip)

Committee aides peppered the former oilman with questions about the 2017 session in Hamburg. Unlike in Helsinki last summer, when Trump met with Putin without advisers present, Tillerson attended the Hamburg meeting, giving him rare insight into the two leaders’ interactions. Experts said the disparity in preparation was unsurprising but risky given Putin’s depth of experience and savvy.

“Putin is a very nimble adversary who’s been at this for 20 years now,” said Andrew Weiss, a Russia scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “The Hamburg meeting sounds like it was one of Putin’s wildest dreams: a freewheeling backroom-style conversation with a U.S. president.”

(snip)

Committee aides said that Tillerson refrained from openly disparaging the president but that his inability to answer certain questions was revealing.

In one exchange, Tillerson said he and the president “shared a common goal: to secure and advance America’s place in the world and to promote and protect American values.”

“Those American values — freedom, democracy, individual liberty and human dignity — are the North Star that guided every action I took at the State Department,” Tillerson said, according to a person in the room.

Upon questioning, Tillerson clarified that although he and the president shared the same goal, they did not share the same “value system.”

When asked to describe Trump’s values, Tillerson said, “I cannot,” the person said.

“Just as matter of fact, he stated that he couldn’t or wouldn’t unpack the president’s values for us,” a committee aide said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/putin-out-prepared-trump-in-key-meeting-rex-tillerson-told-house-panel/2019/05/22/9523c60f-865d-4917-898b-cb32b922e93c_story.html?utm_term=.968779c764ca

True Blue American

(17,972 posts)
4. The point that I see
Thu May 23, 2019, 01:58 AM
May 2019

Here is there are still honorable men willing to tell the truth. Just think about the many who resigned from this Administration.

Unlike many Democrats who are impatient to impeach I have no problem watching facts unfold day after day until it is clear they are strong enough the same way the Nixon story unfolded. It took 2 years and Nixon’s sins. Trump’s are a thousand times worse.

Nasruddin

(741 posts)
5. they are all honorable men
Thu May 23, 2019, 03:22 AM
May 2019

> Here is there are still honorable men willing to tell the truth.
I am not sure.

He seems guarded.

His lack of complete candor, or completeness, disturbs me. I would want this issue pressed a lot harder. Something is missing that he does not want to talk about, and why.

BlueMTexpat

(15,349 posts)
8. While I admit that
Thu May 23, 2019, 04:11 AM
May 2019

Tillerson may have a shred of honor, it barely registers on the scale. He was as complicit as anyone in joining this MisAdministration and certainly had his own agenda. He is likely miffed in part that Jared's actions undercut his own.

IMO, Jared's being allowed to function as he does is yet another nail in the Orange Criminal-in-Chief's coffin and I hope that it will be included in the impeachment charge list, which is lengthening by the day.

That said, like you, I am just as happy to see such factoids released on a daily basis. They are clearly driving Trump crazier than he already was. Officially beginning an impeachment proceeding would limit that and the word "impeach" is also a red flag to the Trump base.

I think that Nancy Pelosi is, like Prez O, a master at three dimensional political chess.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
10. :) You've just forgotten the enormous corruption. It's been awhile.
Thu May 23, 2019, 04:35 AM
May 2019

Tillerson himself was not at all prepared for the job, which in itself to most minds would make his acceptance of it very dishonorable. Would you accept a critical position if you knew you'd be very bad at best? Under an intensely corrupt president you knew would require the same from you?

He couldn't turn to top-level State Dept career people for help because he effectively purged them immediately. To this day many top positions that can only be done by professionals with years of experience are unfilled and the offices gathering dust.

In fact, he pretty took a wrecking ball to the State Department, very much as if he intended to destroy America's ability to play its role in the world, including day-to-day ones in close to 200 nations. Officials and businessmen who turn to America for assistance or cooperation in their nations find no one home. But China and Russia are fully staffed and open for business.

Then, of course, there's the little issue of the many $billions invested in Russian oil fields that are sitting dormant because of U.S. sanctions. Putin and other oligards and Exxon-Mobil (and Tillerson himself), sank huge fortunes in those in expectation of getting many times more back.

It's actually probable that Tillerson was chosen and maneuvered into Trump's cabinet by Putin. Trump hadn't even met him before, but Tillerson had very good relationships with Putin etcetera and Trump has also been so eager to serve.

Putin giving Tillerson the highest honor Russia can bestow on a foreigner in 2013. Love the background.






MyOwnPeace

(16,887 posts)
12. Correct!
Thu May 23, 2019, 06:14 AM
May 2019

He indeed took a wrecking ball to the professionals in the foreign service. His "American values" claim is one driven by doing whatever he and IQ45 could do to raise the value of his banking account, that's all.

lindysalsagal

(20,440 posts)
6. Say what you want about putin. His admin is functioning. Like Valdemort.
Thu May 23, 2019, 03:27 AM
May 2019

Destruction and fear, but it functions.

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
9. The republican draft dodger was too damn busy squandering our tax money on golf
Thu May 23, 2019, 04:16 AM
May 2019

How many millions of our hard-earned tax money have the republicans squandered on this ex casino hustler "billionaire." He's a goofer wanker. Pooty Poot ate his frikken lunch. republicans make American weaker.

True Blue American

(17,972 posts)
11. This is why we have to give credit
Thu May 23, 2019, 05:32 AM
May 2019

To those who actually have the guts to speak out.

From what I have read about Tillerson he actually thought he could do what needed to be done with his past business experience. I remember an article where his wife told him,” God is not through with you yet.” When he was not sure about taking the job.

I think we need to give some credit for those who speak out. We can not hate them all. We gain nothing by that. By no means am I saying Tillerson is an angel. You do not get where he was at BP. But I am saying he testified of his own free will.

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
14. Agree with this
Thu May 23, 2019, 06:53 AM
May 2019

I suspect when Tillerson got to State, he was suprised at the number of bureaucrats. There have been numerous studies of federal government efficiency, the last big one being Al Gore's Reinventing Government. They all talk about flattening organizations as a major goal. Even career federal employees believe in this! Tillerson probably saw a top heavy organization that didn't particularly need to fill a lot of open slots. I don't ascribe a malacious motive here, just the difference between how a company like ExxonMobil is structured and the way the federal govt is.

True Blue American

(17,972 posts)
15. I know there was a problem with staffing
Thu May 23, 2019, 07:08 AM
May 2019

When Tillerson came in. You are probably right. Companies try to be lean and mean.

He found disfunction and ignorance both in the Department and at the top,especially.

i apologize, posted BP. Wrong company.

DeminPennswoods

(15,246 posts)
16. Tillerson reportedly was aloof and a loner
Thu May 23, 2019, 07:17 AM
May 2019

and likely leaned on his own international experience too much which didn't help him with the State Dept staff, but the guy is a trained engineer and understood aksing for facts and making fact-based decisions.

Tanuki

(14,893 posts)
13. And 45 is looking to repeat this fiasco at the G20 in Japan next month
Thu May 23, 2019, 06:18 AM
May 2019
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-meet-vladimir-putin-g20-meeting-1423780%3famp=1

"President Donald Trump has requested to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in late June on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Japan, according to media reports from Russia.

Russian media reported that multiple Russian Foreign Ministry sources claimed Washington had reached out to Moscow to set up a meeting at the summit, which will be held on June 28 and 29 in Osaka. “We have always said that the presence of leaders at an event of the appropriate level would open such an opportunity,” Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying in numerous reports.".... (more)

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
23. Dirty Donny* (R) is meeting with Pooty Poot yet again?
Thu May 23, 2019, 09:51 AM
May 2019

Watch out America. The republican casino hustler is going subby again.

* aka republican Draft-dodger-in-Chief

Kid Berwyn

(14,649 posts)
20. Hmm. Puppet Donnie said he'd been "preparing all his life?"
Thu May 23, 2019, 08:53 AM
May 2019

Must not be all that genius or truthful. Going by what Rex, who was supposedly endorsed for job by both Kissinger and Putin, said, he is not all that loyal to USA.

GusBob

(7,286 posts)
21. Putins no dummy
Thu May 23, 2019, 08:56 AM
May 2019

He: Well this is what the black guy did there....
They: Then we shall do the exact opposite !
He: chuckles* Yeah good idea!

Catherine Vincent

(34,485 posts)
22. And like clockwork...
Thu May 23, 2019, 08:59 AM
May 2019

Trump tweeted this morning that Tillerson is dumb as a rock and a liar.

This man is unbelievable.


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