[Sanchez:] Tonight, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's frustrations with the Trump White House are out in the open. Sources tell CNN Tillerson had a testy exchange with a White House aide during a meeting last week that was described as intense and uncomfortable. Apparently, Tillerson is not pleased with the pace of filling crucial staff positions at the State Department and wants more control over who gets hired. He actually admitted his frustration in public. Watch this.
[Unidentified Female:] Mr. Secretary, are you satisfied with the pace of the staffing at the senior position at the State Department?
[Rex Tillerson, Secretary Of State:] No, I'd like it to go faster. Thank you.
[Sanchez:] Let's talk it over with former Obama State Department Spokesman and CNN Military Diplomatic Analyst, Retired Rear Admiral John Kirby. Admiral, to be fair, there's always tensions between cabinet agencies in the White House over appointments, but it's really urgent to get these positions filled. A lot of them are Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary positions.
[John Kirby, Cnn Miltary Diplomatic Analyst:] That's right. Now, it seems important for the State Department to be fully staffed so that they can conduct the business of foreign policy around the world and just as critically, Boris, to be able to provide policy guidance from Washington that's credible to our outposts around the world, embassies and consulates all over the place. So actually, look, I'm very encouraged that from the reporting that Secretary Tillerson is this concerned about it and trying as hard as he is to get these jobs filled quickly. I think that's actually an encouraging sign.
[Sanchez:] The White House is pushing Tillerson to make some major cuts at the State Department, slashing 30 percent of his budget. When you combine that with the slower pace in hiring, that has to impact the State Department's ability to function and just execute basic foreign policy.
[Kirby:] Yes, I think I think that's exactly right. And this is one area of leadership where actually I'm disappointed in Secretary Tillerson, that he did not fight back a little harder to try to preserve the funding for the State Department. As Secretary Mattis over at Defense has said, if you don't fund the States Department fully, I'm going to have to buy more ammunition. There's a real give and take between diplomacy and defense. They go hand in hand. And I think this is a this is a tough time for our diplomats around the world facing these cuts, facing staffing issues while the world is still turning and there's still crisis all over the place. So I think I think this is a this is a tough issue for them. It's making it harder, just as critically, Boris, it's making it harder for some of our foreign counter parts around the world in trying to figure out where the where America's going to go on any of these issues. What our national interests are that we pursue. It's very confusing.
[Sanchez:] There are quite a few mixed messages, one of them being on our commitment to NATO and Article 5. I do want to get your perspective on this. President Trump asked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to be his point man in the Middle East and to try to restart brokered peace talks. It's interesting that he asked him and not the Secretary of State. Is Rex Tillerson now playing second fiddle to some degree?
[Kirby:] No. I actually don't think so, Boris. It's not unusual for a White House to assign special envoys for this or that foreign problem. President Obama did that too. That's not so unusual and this is a very targeted issue, Israeli-Palestinian tensions. I don't see any indications that Secretary Tillerson is actually cut out of that process, and from what I'm hearing, he actually has very good access to the President, he meets with him one-on-one at least once a week, if not more. And he, you know, I think he's trying to develop a sense of inertia and energy there at the State Department. What's holding him back is the staffing, it's the funding, and, frankly, maybe a two insular organization at the top, that he's not reaching out enough to the career service, foreign service diplomats that are right there in foggy bottom.
[Sanchez:] Admiral, we have to talk about the G-20. The President set to go face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin just a few days from now. CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier actually had a report earlier, she writes, "Moscow believes its Leader, ex-spy master Vladimir Putin can extract major concessions from President Donald Trump when the two meet for the first time next week." Vladimir Putin has this ability to charm people. I think of George W. Bush saying that he looked into his eyes and saw his soul and that he's a good man, President Obama with the reset button only to disappoint these leaders later with invasions in Crimea and Georgia. Are you worried the same thing might happen under President Trump?
[Kirby:] Well, a couple thoughts here. One, it is true that he does try to charm his way into getting concessions and deals. I don't think that we should look at this meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 as necessarily some sort of Summit where there's going to be a specific outcome or tangible sort of deliverable by either side. I really doubt that's going to happen. But I do think that everybody surrounding the President or his National Security Staff are very experienced. They know this man, Putin, for what he is and how he tries to operate, and I'm sure that they're giving the President good strong guidance about going into this meeting and how to play not play, that's not a good word how to interact appropriately and effectively with Vladimir Putin. I think they need to go into this meeting you know, with their shields up, and not, you know, being willing to fall for anything, but they but they also have to look for opportunities to try to make some points and put some points on the board for themselves in terms of working with Russia on issues where we can agree and making clear that we're not going to cooperate with Russia in effective fashion on those issues where, obviously, they have proven unwilling or incapable of helping the international community out such as on Syria.
[Sanchez:] Yes. The President considers himself a master of the art of the deal. We'll see how that works out during the G-20 summit. Rear Admiral John Kirby, thank you so much for the time.
[Kirby:] My pleasure.
[Sanchez:] Coming up, President Trump taking aim at seemingly every aspect of Obama's legacy but he's hardly the first president to target his predecessor. A look back in history when we return.