Trump pushes Tillerson out, taps Mike Pompeo for secretary of state

Rex Tillerson.
(Image credit: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)

President Trump on Tuesday announced the ouster of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Trump asked Tillerson to resign Friday, The Washington Post reports, prompting Tillerson to cut short a scheduled trip to Africa to return to Washington, D.C.

In a statement, Trump announced he is nominating Mike Pompeo, who is currently serving as the CIA director, to replace Tillerson, and will tap Pompeo's deputy Gina Haspel to lead the CIA. If confirmed, Haspel would be the first-ever female director of the spy agency.

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Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.