<\/p>\n
By Tom Benning
\nThe Dallas Morning News<\/h3>\n
Updated at 6:25 p.m.:<\/b><\/i>\u00a0Revised to include comment from Tillerson.<\/i><\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2013 Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is disputing a claim by Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, that he sought to subvert President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda in an effort to \u201csave the country.”<\/p>\n
Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil chief executive,\u00a0told media outlets on Monday<\/a>\u00a0that during his tenure as America\u2019s top diplomat, \u201cat no time did I, nor to my direct knowledge did anyone else serving along with me, take any actions to undermine the president.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the president made a decision, we at the State Department undertook our best efforts to implement that decision,\u201d Tillerson said,\u00a0according to\u00a0The Washington Post<\/i><\/a>, adding that \u201cAmbassador Haley was rarely a participant in my many meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n That denial came after reports emerged that Haley, in her new book, said that Tillerson worked with former White House chief of Staff John Kelly to combat Trump\u2019s decisions and that Haley rebuffed their efforts to join their cause.<\/p>\n \u201cKelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president, they weren\u2019t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country,\u201d Haley wrote in \u201cWith All Due Respect,\u201d which is set to be released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was their decisions, not the president\u2019s, that were in the best interests of America, they said. The president didn\u2019t know what he was doing,\u201d she wrote,\u00a0according to an advanced copy obtained on Sunday by\u00a0The Washington Post<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n Tillerson went so far as to tell Haley that if he didn\u2019t resist Trump\u2019s decisions \u201cpeople would die,\u201d Haley wrote.<\/p>\n