Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday that Sebastian Gorka was "completely wrong" in his resignation letter's assessment of the battle over Trump administration policy.
Gorka unexpectedly resigned his post as Deputy Assistant to the President on Friday; his claim he resigned conflicted with reports that he was pushed out.
In his resignation letter, he wrote "forces that do not support the [Make America Great Again] promise are – for now – ascendant within the White House," warning of the impact so-called "globalists" could have on Trump's agenda.
"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked Tillerson about Gorka's accusations, especially regarding the president's recent speech on Afghanistan.
"Sebastian Gorka in his resignation letter wrote this about the Afghanistan speech: 'the fact that those who drafted and approved the speech remove any mention of radical Islam or radical Islamic terrorism proves that a crucial element of the presidential campaign has been lost.' Is he right?" Wallace asked.
"I think he's completely wrong, Chris," Tillerson said. "And I think it shows a lack of understanding of the president's broader policy when it comes to protecting Americans at home and abroad from all acts of terrorism. The president has charged us to develop policies and tactics, both diplomatically and militarily, to attack terrorism in as many forms wherever it exists in the world and wherever it might present a threat to the homeland or to Americans anywhere."
"This means that we have to develop techniques that are global in nature. All we want is to ensure that terrorists do not have the capability to organize and carry out attacks," he added.
Tillerson also denied that there was any division between "globalists" and "America first-ers."