NOT SO SUBTLE

Tillerson Warns of Leaders Who ‘Seek to Conceal the Truth’

Ex secretary of state lamented a “crisis of ethics and integrity” in first major address since leaving WH.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday warned of a “crisis of ethics and integrity” among leaders, in his first major public speech since he was booted from the White House in March. Speaking to graduates at the Virginia Military Institute, Tillerson appeared to take a few veiled jabs at President Trump, who apparently fired him via tweet. “If our leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom,” he told the crowd. “When we as people, a free people, go wobbly on the truth—even on what may seem the most trivial of matters—we go wobbly on America,” he said. Trump is frequently accused of bending the truth, with The Washington Post’s Fact Checker recording just over 3,000 false or misleading claims since he took office last year.