Trump claims 'dumb as a rock' Rex Tillerson 'made up a story' about Putin running circles around him in 2017 meeting after former secretary of state tells lawmakers the president was underprepared and outflanked
- Rex Tillerson spoke to lawmakers on the Democrat-led House Foreign Affairs Committee
- Trump's former secretary of state reportedly said U.S. and Russian leaders were on 'unequal footing' when they met at a G20 summit in Germany in July 2017
- He said Putin had 'seized every opportunity to push what he wanted' in the talks because Trump was underprepared
- Trump has rejected the claims, saying he was 'perfectly prepared' and 'did well'
- He tweeted a slap at Tillerson on Thursday morning, calling him 'dumb as a rock' and reminding Americans that he fired him
President Donald Trump lashed out Thursday at a report that his former secretary of state told members of Congress he was underprepared and easily outflanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Germany in 2017.
'Rex Tillerson, a man who is “dumb as a rock” and totally ill prepared and ill equipped to be Secretary of State, made up a story (he got fired) that I was out-prepared by Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Hamburg, Germany,' Trump tweeted.
'I don’t think Putin would agree. Look how the U.S. is doing!' he vented.
A House Foreign Affairs Committee source told The Washington Post that Tillerson told lawmakers the 'unequal footing' of an out-of-his-depth Trump left the Kremlin strongman free to 'push what he wanted.'
Trump fired Tillerson in 2018 and replaced him with then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
Tillerson reportedly told committee members that the Trump-Putin meeting in Hamburg spiraled from a brief talk into a two-hour session, leaving Trump exposed.
'Discrepancy in preparation': Donald Trump meets Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Germany in July 2017 – a meeting that Rex Tillerson says the Russian was better prepared for
Rex Tillerson (pictured), who Trump fired as secretary of state in March 2018, told a House committee about his experience at the 2017 summit
The president blasted Tillerson as 'dumb as a rock' and denied Putin outperformed him in Hamburg two summers ago
'We spent a lot of time in the conversation talking about how Putin seized every opportunity to push what he wanted,' a committee source said. 'There was a discrepancy in preparation, and it created an unequal footing.'
Trump has rejected the claims, saying he was 'perfectly prepared' and 'did very well' at the meeting with Putin, which took place on the sidelines of a G20 summit.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday morning on CNN that Trump's meeting with Putin 'went extremely well.'
'The president's been very well prepared, not just for that meeting, but the dozens and dozens of meetings that he's had with other foreign leaders,' she said.
Tillerson had a public fued with Trump in the months after he got his pink slip, calling him 'undisciplined' and saying he frequently had to explain that the President's proposals were illegal.
Trump 'doesn't like to read, doesn't read briefing reports, doesn't like to get into the details of a lot of things,' Tillerson said during an on-stage interview at a Houston charity event.
Firing back, Trump said his former top diplomat 'didn't have the mental capacity needed' for the foreign policy job.
'He was dumb as a rock and I couldn't get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell,' said Trump.
'The president's been very well prepared, not just for that meeting, but the dozens and dozens of meetings that he's had with other foreign leaders,' White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders insisted Thursday morning on CNN
Share this article
The 2017 Trump-Putin meeting was the first between the two leaders since Trump's election win in 2016 – a contest Russians tried to steer through coordinated meddling.
Trump said afterward that he had 'strongly pressed' the Moscow leader over claims of Russian influence and hacking.
He said Putin 'vehemently denied' the conclusions of American intelligence agencies.
Several Russians have been charged with hacking into Democratic email accounts to hurt Hillary Clinton's candidacy in 2016.
It later emerged that the two leaders had an additional, initially undisclosed discussion over dinner on the final night of the Hamburg summit.
Both the White House and Kremlin denied there was any secrecy to the second meeting.
Trump was also forced to defend allowing his daughter, Ivanka Trump, to sit in for him briefly during the summit.
Tillerson attended the talks in Germany, but in 2018 Trump and Putin met privately for more than two hours with only translators present.
Trump previously voiced skepticism about preparing for his first summit with Kim Jong Un, which took place in Singapore in June 2018 (pictured)
Trump faced a furious backlash in the U.S. that week after seeming to accept Putin's denials.
'I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,' he said.
'He just said, "It's not Russia." I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be.'
Obama-era CIA director John Brennan later said that statement was 'nothing short of treasonous' and suggested Trump should be impeached.
James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence from 2010 to 2017, called Trump's performance 'an incredible capitulation.'
Trump later backed down and claimed he misspoke, insisting he meant 'wouldn't' instead of 'would.'
He also voiced skepticism about preparing for his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last year.
'I don't think I have to prepare very much,' he said. 'It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done.'
