GLENN: President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Replaced him with CIA director Mike Pompeo. This is a major change to the national security team, and it is coming on the heels of the announcement that we may be going to North Korea for talks.
Trump apparently asked Friday for Tillerson to step aside and move on and cut short his trip to Africa and return to Washington.
Pompeo is going to replace him at the State Department, and Gina Haspel, she's the deputy director at the CIA, will succeed him at the CIA. She will become the very first woman to run the spy agency, if she is confirmed.
The president said that it was important to make a change now as he prepares for the talks with North Korea. He said, I want to thank Rex Tillerson for his service. A great deal has been accomplished over the last 14 months, and I wish him and his family well. Rex Tillerson on his behalf said, I am deeply grateful to President Trump for permitting me to serve as director of the Central -- no, I'm sorry. That's Pompeo.
Pompeo said, I'm deeply grateful for letting me serve as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. And now for the opportunity to serve as Secretary of State.
That just broke this morning.
And it's coming at an interesting time. And I -- I -- I have a feeling this all came because Tillerson was like, what? Because Tillerson last week was saying, we're not going to North Korea. We're not going to North Korea. We're not going to North Korea.
STU: Yeah. What an hour before -- well, not going to North Korea. But we're going to meet with Kim Jong-un. Right before that, Tillerson said, we're a long way away from direct talks. Which, that long way was 60 minutes.
GLENN: Right. That's a long time in the news cycle.
STU: My kids think an hour is a long time.
GLENN: Right. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? So the speculation, this was the big falling out. This was the final straw. Tillerson was shocked by it. He said right after the statement last week that he had absolutely no idea. The president didn't consult with anyone. It's not -- I mean, it's his prerogative. He doesn't have to consult with anybody.
The only problem with the North Korea thing. And I'm willing to give it a whirl. The only problem from a Department of State stance, would be that once you have the two big guys talk, there isn't anything else left.
So if -- you know, you try to hold that off, as the last possible option when the deal is really getting close, to push it over the top.
You don't want to do that before you've exhausted every other option.
STU: Because once they've met in person, there's nowhere to go from there, except for missiles start flying. At least that's the theory.
GLENN: That's the theory.
STU: That's the theory. And this is interesting, Pompeo moving into that slot. First of all, pretty stable guy. You know, people -- it would be -- this is not like -- there's not a controversy of, oh, my gosh, Mike Pompeo. He was the CIA director already. Former congressman. You know, generally well-respected. One of the interesting things about Pompeo, is he's been one of the harshest voices about Russian meddling in the administration. He said they were absolutely meddling in the elections. Now, again, that doesn't mean collusion --
GLENN: It doesn't mean they changed the outcome of the election or anything.
STU: It has nothing to do with that. But he's been very harsh on Russia and what they've done the past year or two. So that's kind of an interesting point.
GLENN: Yes.
STU: And a positive, that he would --
GLENN: I think that's a real positive, especially for the deadline that we are waiting for in England. Don't know about it? Yeah, probably because the news has been so focused on other crap, that you didn't hear it.
There's big developments between the UK and Russia. We'll talk about that as the morning progresses.