Trump is reportedly mulling replacing Tillerson with CIA chief, naming Sen. Tom Cotton to CIA

(Image credit: Zach Gibson - Pool/Getty Images)

published 16 October 2017

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may be (ahem) intact, but his relationship with President Trump has turned famously testy. Trump has been weighing replacing Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Axios reported after the Trump-Tillerson rift widened publicly, and now, Axios' Mike Allen said Monday morning, Trump is mulling Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to replace Pompeo at the CIA. Cotton, 40, is open to the switch, a "longtime friend" tells Axios: "This guy quit his fancy law firm to serve his country in the wake of 9/11. He does his duty when the country calls."

Conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, who speaks with Cotton and first floated him for the CIA job, according to Axios, said that Trump is comfortable with Cotton and talks to him on the phone several times a week. Both Cotton and Pompeo, a former congressman, "like and listen to the president" and "accept his realism in foreign affairs," Hewitt tells Axios. You can read more about the Trump administration scuttlebutt at Axios.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.