President Donald Trump is telling reporters that he made the decision to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "by myself."
The president is adding that Tillerson will be "much happier now," and he appreciates his service. Trump says he and Tillerson had been "talking about this for a long time," and they had disagreed on issues like the Iran deal.
"We got along actually quite well but we disagreed on things," Trump told reporters.
"When you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible, he thought it was OK. I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently. So we were not really thinking the same."
Trump is praising the energy and intellect of his incoming Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who has led the CIA.
The president spoke to reporters at the White House shortly before departing for Joint Base Andrews for his trip to California.
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