Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump's tweets are not a hindrance to the State Department's duties.
NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell asked Tillerson at a press briefing about the president's Twitter use, how difficult his tweets have made things for diplomats at the State Department, and if Trump's appointment of John Kelly as his new chief of staff will help bring stability to the White House.
"I think the selection of John Kelly as the chief of staff was a brilliant selection," Tillerson said, describing his history working with Kelly when he served as secretary of homeland security. "He has been a wonderful partner, interagency partner. He's someone who I have a great deal of trust and confidence in."
"And the president I think is looking for things to be different or he would not have selected someone like John Kelly to be chief of staff," Tillerson added.
The secretary of state then addressed Trump's tweeting, and said that it is something the State Department works with and has no effect on the department's operations.
"I think with respect to how we conduct foreign policy in light of the fact that the president communicates the way he does is, as I've explained to the people in this building, look, it's just like anything else, it's part of the environment in which we work," Tillerson said. "We'll adapt to it."
"I don't view it as an obstacle, a hindrance, or as an assistance," Tillerson said. "Whatever the president chooses to express, he expresses, and then that's information to everybody, us included."