Sacked Rex Tillerson issues Russia warning

Outgoing US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a point to specifically call out Russia in his farewell statement on Tuesday -- highlighting an urgent challenge that is now the responsibility of his replacement Mike Pompeo along with Defense Secretary James Mattis. Trump officially fired Tillerson via Twitter, naming CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his replacement. In his speech, Tillerson never thanked the president, and only mentioned him once, saying, “I received a call today from the president of the United States a little after noon time from Air Force One.” That’s about three hours after Trump tweeted that CIA director Mike Pompeo would replace Tillerson as secretary of state. In his tweet, Trump also named Gina Haspel to become the CIA's first female director.  

Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018