Already. It is a few days, after all. They violated one of the worst deals ive ever seen negotiated at any level. This is the dumbest agreement i think ive ever seen. If i become president , im going to renegotiate our trade deals, because our trade deals are not sustainable by this country. Drain the swamp in washington, d. C. We are going to renegotiate our terrible trade deals. In pompeo, he gets his iran hawk, and in cohn he gets a clear deal to dismantling trade deals around the world. In gina haspel, he gets someone with a hardline past on terrorism and torture. Which if you were following the campaign, youll remember donald trump wants. Would i approve waterboarding . You bet your ass i would approve it. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, but they say they dont care about their lives. You have to take out their families. Which leads us to our big question. What else is donald trump getting out of this shake up and what more could come . Again, the nowoutgoing secretary of state will be briefing reporters on camera in just a moment. Should be interesting. But first, lets get to our reporters and experts. Chris matthews, host of hardball, is with here with me. Chris, ill start with you, before i get to everybody else. What do we think is happening . Is this a president who is deciding hes going to do things his own way, no matter what . You know, he wants to have everyone understand that hes the boss, theres no one around him, theres no team of rivals, theres no negotiates or c consiglie consiglieres, its him. He did it in the campaign. Remember how he was upset that people were giving steve bannon credit for the campaign you covered. He didnt want anyone getting credit, his socalled strategists. Same with economic policy, he didnt want gary cohn involved in it. Get rid of cohn, hes gone. Now he wants to be the leader of the free world, doesnt want to have anyone as a foreign minister or a secretary of state. Its all going to be him. I think the scary thing about this, of course, is he did campaign on a couple of things. And one of them was no stupid wars. Whats the alternative to the Iranian Nuclear deal . Whats the alternative . They continue making the Nuclear Weapons, they go back on what they were doing . And then we go to woar with him . Thats the dangerous part of it. If he goes to pompeo to a hawkish position on iran, whats that going to look like . That looks to me like a stupid war in the works. This was what people were worried about when the administration was coming in. Right before the inauguration, when they were figuring out who was going to be in which cabinet position and while mike flynn was still the nsa, there was real concern that iran was going to be in the crosshairs. All of these iran hawks who agreed with donald trump about ripping up that deal, who did not trust iran. There was concern that the first headline theyd see out of this administration would be donald trump confronts iran and starts something. So can we take this as pompeo, that donald trump now deciding that he doesnt care what his diplomats say, he doesnt care what lawmakers say, he doesnt care what we may have said in the past. That this is a pretty clear indication that that iran deal is going to get ripped up . And the iran deal wasnt like telling somebody what you want on your hamburger. It was the deal we could get with all of our partners in the world. It wases s a multilateral deal the world. The only way we could do sanctions. And it was the only deal we could cut with everyone around the world, the germans and everybody else, and it worked. And if he pulse out, theyll Start Building rockets again and start putting their Nuclear Program on track. And then what do we do . What netanyahu wants us to do . Go to war . He said no stupid wars and this looks like a stupid war. North korea with the Nuclear Weapons . Same thing. And by the way, what kind of deal is he going to cut with kim jongun . Maybe its as good as the iran deal. They already have Nuclear Weapons. So whatever we have will be in the face of the fact that theyve got a Nuclear Program to start with. It cant be better than the iranian deal. They dont have Nuclear Weapons. Chris, where does this position come from . This antiiran position. Is this just because this was a landmark deal that president obama signed and negotiated in his administration . I dont want know whether its his contributors, supporters, why do we move the embassy, this hawkish neocon position is what he ran against. He said, were not going to be like w. Was. Were not going to be talking around the middle east, talking about a freedom agenda, looking to engage in regime change. We are not going to do that anymore. That is not good for our country. And here he is basically restarting the fight with iran, while hes got a fight going with north korea already. Tillerson is going to come out in a moment. Weve played a couple other moments from the campaign off the top of this show, other things that donald trump wanted and were seeing, you know, theres no tpp, he pulled out of the pacer climate accords, hes getting his wall built, hes visiting it today when hes in california. Everything he said on the campaign trail, which seemed outrageous at the time and impossible at the time, he seems to be getting, or on his way to getting in this administration. There were other moments that stood out to me. And waterboarding was one of them, chris. He said this repeatedly on the campaign trail, that waterboarding didnt go fair enough, that he would do that and worse. Gina haspel has a real history with enhanced interrogation in the cia. I think anybody whos ever been in the military is against torture. Its the old question, do you want our enemies do what we do to other people . We dont want to get in the business of torture. And i want to go back over something. Reasonable people, not a lot, but some voted for trump because he said, im going to stop all these stupid wars, which is something he was talking against his own partys record in afghanistan and iraq. No more trying to topple dictators. Were not going that anymore. Its not in our interests. And the other thing he promised that hes never done was to rebuild america. And whether you have to go to erie, pennsylvania, where the bridges are falling apart, he gave that money away to his rich friends instead of rebuilding. And that was a betrayal. I think the two things, that some reasonable people liked about his campaign, no more stupid wars and rebuild america first, not spend our money overseas. Hes not going. Okay, hes doing torture. Who does that benefit . Its not benefiting the voters in erie and its not going to help him get elected anywhere in pennsylvania. It might not be benefiting them in actual practice, because that was one of the lines, chris, that got the biggest applause and the loudest cheers wherever we were on the campaign trail, north, east, south, west. It didnt matter. Donald Trump Supporters cheered that on. They wanted somebody who was going to be tough, despite the fact that he wasnt going to be involved. He contradicted himself left and right. I think torture is immoral and i think its going to be seen as immoral. Were not going to do it. The military guys like john mccain knows who really did face the enemy and faced capture and imprisonment know that we dont get in that business again. Chris, lets talk about tillerson real fast. What could he possibly come out and say . Well, he has a right to be angry, because the secretary of state is a hugely important position in our history. It goes back to jefferson. Hes secretary of state and he got fired by tweet . why doesnt trump have the whatever it takes to meet these people, whether its priebus or anybody else hes going to fire and do it to their face . Why did he fire comey by remote . He did it when he was in california. Why didnt he call him and say, you know, youve done a great job, i just want to go a different direction on iran. I have to ask for your resignation. Thats the way a gentlemen does it. What do you think, it could be because tillerson called him a moron. Well, yeah, i was going to bring that up, but it was a year ago and i thought, ever since he said that, this guy was cooked. I agree. You think like i do, katy. Youre right, exactly. He wasnt going to live with a guy who called him a moron. But then he gets into the iq business. He wanted to take an iq test and compare his results with tillerson. He also went after the iq of a congresswoman from california this week. Hes a projector , chris. Everything you say about him, he says about you. Im rubber and youre glue. Heres a thought. When he had frog legs with romney. Remember that one . Yeah. We all watched it and said, oh, what were doing here is making fun of romney, make this upper class guy beg for a job and pull it out from under him, humiliate him. Just think how good mitt romney feels today that hes not being put through this humiliation. This is what faced him. This kind of tenure ending. And he now doesnt have he can watch somebody else go through it. Well, we will see how mitt romney reacts in realtime once he is, if he is elected to utahs senate. Hes waiting for 2020. We know that. Hes waiting for 2020. Really . You think again . I think its going to be an opening. A lot of people think it will be an opening. Chris, stick around for us. We have a few other reporters who are hoping to jump in. If you can, stick with us. Sure. Nbcs Peter Alexander is at the white house. And Garrett Haake is on capitol hill. Also joining us, carol lee and reporter for the Washington Post, ashley parker. Peter, i want to start with you. How did this go down . Reporter lets walk you through at least a couple phone calls that we know took place between the chief of staff here at the white house, john kelly, and Rex Tillerson, dating back to this past friday. The first call to tillerson from the chief of staff coming friday here, Early Saturday Morning in africa, where tillerson was effectively doing an apology tour on behalf of the president for the shole comment the president used about african nations, only a matter of months ago. At the time, tillerson, we are told, according to white house officials, effectively being told by the chief of staff that the president wanted him to, quote, step aside. Then we understand according to officials here, there was a separate phone call that took place saturday, in effect, saying that the ouster or that tillersons ouster was, quote, imminent, recognized that Rex Tillerson didnt land back in the states until the wee hours, overnight, early this morning, and it was only a matter of hours after that that we understand that he officially got the word that he was being fired by the president s tweet this morning, announcing his new selection for secretary of state, the nominee would be the cia director, mike pompeo, katy. And what youre hearing in the background, i believe, is one of the reporters in the Briefing Room give a live report, i think. Reporter its a busy one here. Were just getting word that Rex Tillerson is walking down the hall to that podium. Ashley, quickly to you, and well have to cut you off if he shows up, but the white house has now also fired the undersecretary who released the statement saying tillerson was surprised by the firing, which the white house contradicted. Ashley, hold on on that, because Rex Tillerson is now good afternoon, all. I received a call today from the president of the United States a little after noontime from air force one and ive also spoken to white house chief of staff kelly to ensure we have clarity as to the days ahead. What is most important is to ensure an orderly and smooth transition during a time that the country continues to face significant policy and National Security challenges. As such, effective, at the end of the day, i am delegating all responsibilities of the office of the secretary to deputy secretary of state sullivan. My commission as secretary of state will terminate at midnight, march the 31st. Between now and then, i will address a few administrative matters related to my departure and work towards a smooth and orderly transition for secretary of state designate, mike pompeo. Im encouraging my policy Planning Team and undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, those confirmed, as well as those in acting positions, to remain at their post and continue our mission at the state department and working with interagency process. I will be meeting members of my Front Office Team and policy planning later today to thank them for their service. They have been extraordinarily dedicated to our mission, which includes promoting values that i view as being very important to the safety and security of our state department personnel, accountability, which means treating each other with honesty and integrity, and respect for one another. Most recently in particular, to address challenges of Sexual Harassment within the department. I want to speak now to my state Department Colleagues and to our interagency partners and colleagues at dod and the joint chief of staffs, most particularly. To my Foreign Service officers and Civil Service colleagues, we all took the same oath of office, whether youre a career employee or a political appointee, we are all bound by that common commitment. To support and defend the constitution, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and to faithfully discharge the duties of our office. As a state department, we are bound together by that oath. We remain steadfast here in washington, and if post, across the world. Many of whom are in danger pay situations without their families. The world needs selfless leaders like these, ready to work with longstanding allies, new emerging partners and allies, who now, many are struggling as democracies and in some cases, are dealing with human tragedy, crisis of natural disasters, literally crawling themselves out of those circumstances. These are experiences that no lecture hall in an academic environment or in a think tank can teach you, only by people going to the front lines to serve can they develop this kind of talent. To the men and women in uniform, im told for the first time in most peoples memory, the department of state and department of defense have a close working relationship where we all agree the u. S. Leadership starts with diplomacy. The men and women in uniform at the department of defense under the leadership of secretary mattis and general dunceford protect us as americans and our way of life daily at home and abroad. As an allvolunteer military, they do it for love of country, they do it for you, and they do it for me. For no other reason. As americans, we are all eternally grateful to each of them and we honor their sacrifices. The rewarding part of having leadership and partnerships in place is that you can actually get some things done. And i want to give recognition to the state department and our partners for a few of their accomplishments under this administration. First, working with allies, we exceeded the expectations of almost everyone with the dprk maximum pressure campaign. With the announcement on my very first trip as secretary of state to the region, that the era of strategic patience was over, and we commenced the steps to dramatically increase not just the scope, but the effectiveness of the sanctions. The department undertook a Global Campaign to bring partners and allies onboard in every country around the world, with every mission raising this to the highest levels and every meeting ive had throughout the year, this has opinibeen on the agenda to discuss. The adoption of the south asia strategy, with the conditions of military plan is a tool to compel the taliban to reconciliation and peace talks with the afghan government. Finally equipped our military planners with a strategy which they can execute, as opposed to a succession of 16 oneyear strategies. This clear military commitment tracted the support of allies broadly, and equipped our diplomats with a whole new level of certainty around how to prepare for the peace talks and achieve the final objectives. In other areas, while progress has been made, much work remains. In syria, we did achieve important ceasefires and stabilizations, which we know has saved thousands of lives. Theres more to be done in syria, particularly with respect to achieving the peace, as well as stabilizing iraq and seeing a healthy government installed. And more broadly in the entire Global Campaign to defeat isis. Nothing is possible without allies and partners, though. Much work remains to establish a clear view of the nature of our future relationship with china. How shall we deal with one another over the next 50 years and ensure a appeared of prosperity for all of our peoples, free of conflict between two very powerful nations. And much work remains to respond to the troubling behavior and actions on the part of the russian government. Russia must assess carefully as to how its actions are in the best interests of the russian and of the world more broadly. Continuing on our current trajectory is likely to lead to greater sizelatiisolation on th. A situation which is not in anyones interests. So my colleagues in the state department and in the interagency, much remains to be done to achieve our mission, on behalf of the American People, with allies and with partners. I close by thanking all for the privilege of serving beside you for the last 14 months. Importantly, to the 300 plus million americans, thank you for your devotion to a free and open society. To acts of kindness towards one another, to honesty and the quiet, hard work that you do every day to support this government with your tax dollars. All of us, we know, want to leave this place as a better place for the next generation. Ill now return to private life, as a private citizen, as a proud american, proud of the opportunity ive had to serve my country. God bless all of you. God bless the American People. God bless america. Se