13:48, 14-Mar-2018
US Cabinet Shake-up: Top dipomat Rex Tillerson on his way out
[]
Share
Copied
Cutting his trip to Africa short was not enough to save Rex Tillerson's job as America's top diplomat. He was nominated by Trump to head the State Department in December 2016, and he was described as "one of the truly great business leaders of the world."
The 65-year-old spent his entire career working for the world's most valuable publicly-traded oil company, ExxonMobil, and worked his way up to chief executive.
Tillerson was all set for retirement when President Trump tapped him for one of his new administration's top roles. The nomination came amid controversy due to his own links to Moscow, which had given Tillerson the Russian Order of Friendship in 2013.
The Texas oilman was narrowly approved for the Secretary of State job, with only a handful of Democrats crossing party lines to back him.