About Rex Tillerson
Rex Tillerson served as U.S. Secretary of State from February 2017 to March 2018. During his tenure, he described the administration's approach to North Korea as a "peaceful pressure campaign," which he said was the same as what President Donald Trump called the "maximum pressure campaign." Tillerson stated that the re-designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism in November 2017 was a step to hold the country accountable for actions including assassinations and the use of banned chemical weapons. He said the sanctions were having an effect, citing fuel shortages and reduced revenues, and expressed hope that the pressure would lead Kim Jong Un to reverse the nuclear weapons program.
Tillerson was fired by President Trump on March 13, 2018, and announced he would delegate his responsibilities to Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan to ensure a smooth transition. In his farewell address to State Department staff, he said the department had "exceeded the expectations of almost everyone" with the North Korea pressure campaign and noted accomplishments including ceasefires in Syria and the adoption of a South Asia strategy. He also said Russia must "assess carefully" its actions, warning that continuing on its current trajectory could lead to "greater isolation." In his final remarks, Tillerson told staff that Washington "can be a very mean-spirited town" but that "you don't have to choose to participate in that."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Rex Tillerson's recent appearances.
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✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Andrew0:00
By your own letter to the speaker of the house, Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal. If you break out of that deal, won't that send a signal to North Korea and other rogue nations that the US can't be trusted to keep its end of the bargain? And Iran is already being sanctioned for its terrorism, for its missile advances by the US. Is another option, one that many Republicans on the Hill have suggested, to increase those sanctions to punish Iran for those behaviors?
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Rex Tillerson0:32
Well, Andrew, I think it's important in any conversation on JCPOA. And I think this was one of the mistakes in how that agreement was put together is that it completely ignored all of the other serious threats that Iran poses. And I just went through a few of those with you. And that's why our view is that we have to look at Iran in a very comprehensive way in terms of the threat it poses in all areas of the region and the world. And the JCPOA is just one element of that. And so we are going to review completely the JCPOA itself. As I said, it really does not achieve the objective. It is another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions. We buy them off for a short period of time and then someone has to deal with it later. So we just don't see that that's a prudent way to be dealing with Iran. Certainly not in the context of all of their other disruptive activities.
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Matt1:32
Mr. Secretary, you mentioned that the JCPOA is another example of a failed approach, likening it to strategic patience with North Korea. On North Korea, is there serious consideration being given to relisting it as a state sponsor of terrorism? Something that was a designation that was removed in fact by the Bush administration.
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Rex Tillerson1:55
We're reviewing all of the status of North Korea both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as well as all the other ways in which we can bring pressure to bear on the regime and Pyongyang to re-engage, but re-engage with us on a different footing than the past talks have been held. So yes, we are evaluating all of those options.
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Conor2:18
Venezuela, the turmoil in Venezuela today. Are you worried about the situation in the streets of Caracas and Venezuela?
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Rex Tillerson2:25
I'm sorry, I didn't catch all of your question.
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Conor2:29
The situation in Venezuela. Today there is a lot of people on the streets of Venezuela protesting against the government of Nicolas Maduro. Are you worried about the situation there?
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Rex Tillerson2:40
Well, we are concerned that the government of Maduro is violating its own constitution and is not allowing the opposition to have their voices heard, nor allowing them to organize in a way that expresses the views of the Venezuelan people. Yes, we are concerned about that situation. We're watching it closely and working with others, particularly through the OAS, to communicate those concerns to them.
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