The US President tweeted: “Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!”
It remains unclear what prompted the ousting of Mr Tillerson, who was one of the most senior members of the Trump administration and had served the President since he was inaugurated last January.
A senior White House official told Reuters that Tillerson’s departure was a result of the President’s plans to install a new team ahead of planned talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un later this year.
Mr Tillerson, a former chief executive of oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, joins a growing number of senior White House officials who have left their posts in recent months.
Last week Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, announced plans to resign – shortly before the President signed off on the highly controversial trade tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Mr Tillerson and the President had a series of high-profile disputes – most notably when the former Secretary of State reportedly called Trump a “f***ing moron” after the President called for a tenfold expansion of the US nuclear arsenal.
More to follow…