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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Senator0:01
You talked about eliminating ISIS as one of your top priorities if you're confirmed, and your opening statement connects radical Islam to ISIS. You also make the point of saying that you think it's important to support Muslims around the world who reject radical Islam. During the last Congress, this committee heard about the importance of working with the Muslim community in the United States to combat ISIS and the domestic terrorists that have been produced as a result of ISIS ideology. In your view, is it helpful to suggest that as Americans we should be afraid of Muslims?
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Rex Tillerson0:45
No, Senator. In my travels and because of my past work, I've traveled extensively in Muslim countries, not just the Middle East but throughout Southeast Asia, and have gained an appreciation and recognition of this great faith. That's why I made a distinction that we should support those Muslim voices that reject this same radical Islam that we reject. This is part of winning the war other than on the battlefield. I mentioned we have to win it not just on the battlefield; we've got to win the war of ideas. And our greatest one of our greatest allies in this war is going to be the moderate voices of people of the Muslim faith who speak from their perspective and their rejection of that representation of what is otherwise a great faith.
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Senator1:38
So do you support restricting travel or immigration to the United States by Muslims?
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Rex Tillerson1:45
I think what's important is that we are able to make a judgment about the people that are coming into the country. So no, I do not support a blanket type rejection of any particular group of people. But clearly we have serious challenges, and to be able to vet people coming into the country, particularly under the current circumstances because of the instability in the parts of the world that it's occurring and the massive migration that's occurred out of the region, and a lack of any documentation following people as they have moved through various other countries, it's a huge challenge. And I don't think we can just close our eyes and ignore that. We have to be very clear-eyed about recognizing that threat and developing a means to deal with it.
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Senator2:30
Well, I certainly agree with that, which is very different I think than a ban on an entire religion or people of that religion. Do you support creating a national registry for American Muslims?
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Rex Tillerson2:44
I would need to have a lot more information around how such an approach would even be constructed. And if it were a tool for vetting, then it probably extends to other people as well, other groups that are threats to the U.S. But that would just require me much more information around how that would even be approached.
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Senator3:09
And one of the things you and I discussed when we met was the special immigrant visa program that we have maintained for Afghans who have helped our men and women in the military on the ground. Will you support continuing that program to ensure that those people who have been properly vetted, who helped our men and women, are able to come to this country when their lives are threatened in Afghanistan?
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Rex Tillerson3:34
Special visa waiver program: it's important that we protect those whose lives are truly at risk because of their efforts to assist our American military forces or other forces in Afghanistan. I think it is also important to make the distinction, otherwise we undermine this program and risk losing it, and not expand it to allow other people to come through the program that are not truly at risk. So it is, I think, the execution, and this gets back to following through on what the intent of these programs were. Let's be very specific and execute well, and not get sloppy in the execution and start having a lot of other folks coming through the program that really don't meet that criteria.
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Senator4:23
Well, thank you. I think Congress has pretty narrowly focused the program. I appreciate that.
