President Trump ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday, telling reporters he made the decision "by myself." The State Department released a statement saying Tillerson was "unaware of the reason" for his firing but that he "still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling."
So noble, in fact, that Trump reportedly did not deign to fire Tillerson directly, but rather allowed him to find out of his dismissal via presidential tweet:
Tillerson was not formally notified he'd been fired until after Trump's tweet, which clued him in, CNN's Elise Labott reports. Trump essentially admitted that he allowed Tillerson to read of his own firing on Twitter, telling reporters that he "didn't really discuss it much" with the ousted secretary before writing the missive, Axios reports.