Tillerson Declines to Say If Trump Defends American Values — ‘The President Speaks for Himself’

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” when asked about a U.N. committee criticism of President Donald Trump’s reaction to the violence in Charlottesville, VA, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declined to discuss President Trump’s values.

Partial transcript as follows:

WALLACE: Does that make it harder for you to push American values around the world when some foreign leaders question the President’s values?

TILLERSON: Chris we express America’s values from the State Department. We represent the American people. We represent American values, our commitment to freedom, our commitment to equal treatment to people the world over and that message has never changed.

WALLACE: And when the president gets into the kind of controversy he does and the U.N. committee responds the way it does it seem to say they begin to doubt whether we’re living those values.

TILLERSON:  I don’t believe anyone doubts the American people’s values or the commitment of the American government or the government’s agencies to advancing those values and defending those values.

WALLACE: And the President’s values?

TILLERSON: The President speaks for himself, Chris.

WALLACE: Are you separating yourself from that, sir?

TILLERSON: I’ve spoken, I’ve made my own comments as to our values as well in a speech I gave to the State Department this past week.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN