Rex Tillerson was startled that Trump told reporters he had made up his mind on Iran deal
Source: The Washington Post
By David Nakamura and Anne Gearan September 20 at 9:58 PM
NEW YORK — With a chatty boss like President Trump, message discipline has not exactly been scrupulously attended within his administration. Especially by the boss himself.
So when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson briefed reporters here Wednesday night following a private meeting with Iranian officials on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, he declared that Trump was "still considering" whether to decertify Iran over violations of the U.N.-backed nuclear deal ahead of a deadline next month. A reporter quickly corrected Tillerson: Trump actually had said publicly just hours earlier that he had made up his mind. "I have decided," the president said. "I'll let you know."
Tillerson looked sheepish. Okay, he acknowledged, the president had indeed said as much "I think in a 'press avail' or a spray somewhere." (A spray, in White House parlance, is akin to a photo-op in which the president occasionally makes brief remarks or answers shouted questions from reporters, which is what happened in Trump's case.)
"I didn't know he was going to say today he made a decision," Tillerson said. The nation's top diplomat then went on to add: "I knew he had, but I didn’t know he was going to say he had."
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/20/rex-tillerson-was-startled-that-trump-told-reporters-he-had-made-up-his-mind-on-iran-deal
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