Tillerson: Trump Was Telling the Russians He Wasn’t Going To Be Distracted When He Called Comey a ‘Nut Job’

WALLACE: Mr. Secretary, you were in the Oval Office when the president met with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on May 10th, and according to the official summary, the president told Lavrov: I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut ob. I face great pressure because of Russia, that’s taken off.

My question to you, sir, as someone who was in that meeting — was he telling the Russians that firing Comey was taking off legal and political pressure?

TILLERSON: Chris, that’s not my — my interpretation, certainly, of the conversation. And I think what the president was trying to convey to the Russians is, look, I’m not going to be distracted by this — all these issues that are here at home, they — that, you know, affect us domestically. I’m not going to let that distract from our efforts to see if we can engage with you, engage with Russia, and identify areas where we might be able to work together. The president I think reemphasized the message to the Russians that the relationship is at a low point and we need to change that, we need to both work towards trying to improve that.

So I think the point he was making is I’m not going to be distracted by those things that are happening here at home, nor let them get in the way of the important work of engaging Russia to see what can be done to improve this relationship.

WALLACE: But, sir, he seemed to be saying that firing Comey would help remove one of the distractions.

TILLERSON: I — Chris, I just didn’t — my takeaway from that conversation was not that point at all. I think, again, the president was simply saying to the Russians these issues at home are not going to get in the way of my effort and the effort of my government to see if we can find a way to move this relationship forward.