Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that he had not wanted a job in the Trump administration.
Speaking candidly to the Independent Journal Review during his recent trip to Asia, the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil explained how it was his wife who convinced him he should take up President Donald Trump’s offer.
“I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids,” he said. “I didn’t want this job. I didn’t seek this job.”
Tillerson described how Trump, as president-elect, called a meeting with him. He obliged, and after a long and in-depth conversation, Trump asked him to become head of the State Department.
“I was stunned,” Tillerson told the interviewer, before detailing how he then told his wife about the offer.
“I told you God’s not through with you,” she reportedly said to him, shaking her finger.
“My wife convinced me,” he continued. “She was right. I’m supposed to do this.”
After accepting the job, Tillerson was confirmed in February. His confirmation hearing split the Senate along partisan lines, as Democrats opposed his appointment, citing the oil executive’s international business interests and his opposition to the Obama administration’s sanctions on Russia.
Three Democrat senators broke rank and one abstained in a 56-43 vote, making Tillerson one of the most historically divisive Secretary of State confirmations of all time.
H/T The Hill