Trump left the White House for California, to see prototypes for his border wall. Pausing by the Marine One helicopter, he told reporters he had been “talking about this for a long time”.
“I’ll be speaking to Rex over a long period of time,” Trump said. “I actually got on well with Rex but it was a different mindset.”
He added: “When you look at the Iran deal: I think it’s terrible, I guess he thought it was OK. I wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently.”
Tillerson has argued that the US should abide by the agreement about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions that was reached under Barack Obama in 2015. Pompeo is a longstanding opponent of the deal.
The president said: “I’ve worked with Mike Pompeo now for quite some time. Tremendous energy, tremendous intellect, we’re always on the same wavelength. The relationship has been very good and that’s what I need as secretary of state. I wish Rex Tillerson well.”