U.S. diplomats around the world on Tuesday were told by Washington not to post or retweet a statement by now-former Undersecretary of State Steven Goldstein that apparently contradicted the White House’s account of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s firing.
Guidance sent to American diplomatic outposts also instructed officials to “freeze further amplification of content that features” Tillerson until he spoke publicly later that day, CNN reported.
The guidance came shortly after President Trump abruptly announced in a tweet that he had fired Tillerson and tapped CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him at the State Department.
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Goldstein was also fired Tuesday after he issued a statement saying that Tillerson was unaware of the reason for his firing and had not spoken to the president about the matter.
That statement apparently contradicted the official account of the White House, which had claimed that Tillerson had been aware that the announcement was coming.
The guidance instructing U.S. diplomats to avoid quoting a statement from an undersecretary was highly unusual, multiple diplomats told CNN.
An official had already begun translating Goldstein’s statement into different languages for U.S. Embassies, but ultimately stopped amid the confusion, the network reported.