WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is weighing whether to make U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton the next director of the CIA, The New York Times and the Washington Post reported Thursday, a move that's part of a plan that would replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with current CIA leader Mike Pompeo.
Both stories relied on statements from unnamed White House sources.
Asked via text about the reports, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders replied this afternoon: "We have no personnel announcements."
In an interview, Cotton spokeswoman Caroline Rabbitt didn't address the substance of the reports.
“Senator Cotton is focused on serving Arkansans in the Senate," she said.
Talk of a possible administration shake-up and a Cotton move to the CIA has circulated for more than a month.
In mid-October, the website Axios, and then CNN, said the White House was weighing whether to fire Tillerson and replace him with Pompeo.
The reports indicated that Pompeo might be replaced by Cotton, a first-term Republican senator from Dardanelle.
On Oct. 20, Huckabee Sanders dismissed talk of an imminent CIA vacancy.
“Pompeo [is] not going anywhere,” she told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via email.
But Trump’s dissatisfaction with Tillerson has continued since then, placing the top diplomat’s job in jeopardy, according to news reports.
Tillerson reportedly called the president a moron earlier this year; the former Exxon CEO hasn’t denied insulting his boss.
In an interview in October, Cotton laughed when asked about a possible move to the CIA.
“I’m very happy to be in the Senate serving the people of Arkansas. I think the CIA has a director right now who’s doing a pretty good job,” he said.
Pressed about whether the reports were credible, Cotton said, “I don’t pay much attention to the Washington parlor game debates. I focus on what I’m doing here in the U.S. Senate for the people of Arkansas, and Mike Pompeo’s a great friend and he’s a great director.”
Cotton, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, has been considered for administration posts before. In November 2016, days after Trump’s election, the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran was summoned to Trump Tower in New York City to meet with the then president-elect. At the time, the New York Republican was interviewing candidates for various administration posts, including secretary of defense.
The state’s senior U.S. senator, Republican John Boozman of Rogers, said in October that the CIA would be in capable hands with Cotton at the helm.
“I think he would be really very well qualified to lead the agency — or any agency — in government,” he said.
Tillerson's likely ouster loomed over an Oval Office meeting Thursday between Trump and the visiting crown prince of Bahrain, the Associated Press reported. Asked by a reporter whether he wanted Tillerson to stay on the job, Trump merely pointed out that Tillerson was in fact in the building.
"He's here. Rex is here," the president said.
A White House official said it was unclear how soon Tillerson might be replaced, and word of the plan appeared to catch Tillerson and his staff off-guard. Tillerson aides and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The New York Times, which first reported the potential shake-up, said it was likely to happen within several weeks.
Nor was it clear whether either Pompeo or Cotton had been formally approached by the White House about the potential new roles. Yet several administration officials said that Pompeo has said in the past that he's open to taking the job.
Huckabee Sanders hinted that Tillerson would likely remain at least until year's end.
"Secretary Tillerson continues to lead the State Department, and the entire Cabinet is focused on completing this incredibly successful first year of President Trump's administration," she said.
The White House started telling people in September that Tillerson would be replaced, said a senior administration official. By that point, some issues that needed sign-off from the secretary of state were being put off until after Tillerson was gone, said the official, who like others wasn't authorized to comment publicly and demanded anonymity.
Check back with Arkansas Online for updates and read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.