White House rift? Rex Tillerson 'SHOUTS at Donald Trump aide' in feud over staffing issues

The former Exxon bigwig, known for his mild Texan manner, is believed to have shouted at staffer Johnny DeStefano, who is responsible for hiring personnel for government positions.

Mr Tillerson reportedly accused the staffer of undermining his decisions when it came to hiring members for the state department amid claims from insiders that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is working as the “de facto Secretary of State”.

Mr Kushner has been making appearances around the world on behalf of the Trump administration, joining the President on his first foreign tour as well as representing the White House in the Middle East and China.

Matthew Waxman, a senior official in George W. Bush’s White House, claimed the slow pace of President Trump’s Government in hiring staff was “abnormal”.

Despite being in office for more than 160 days, the White House still have over 500 critical vacancies left to fill in the federal Government.

So far only 151 nominations have been announced, just over half of the appointments achieved by President Obama over the same time period.

Mr Waxman said: “It’s very common that there would be some tensions and some tussles between the White House and departments or agencies about senior personnel decisions.

“It’s just very abnormal that these issues wouldn’t be worked out more quickly.

“But we have a system of government where political appointments run very, very deep.

“It’s the way the system works. The White House has the final say.”

Speaking about the tussle between Tillerson and DeStefano, a former transition aide added: “Rex is a 65-year-old guy who worked his way up from the bottom at Exxon, and he chafes at the idea of taking orders from a 38-year-old political operative.”

It comes as Rex Tillerson works with officials in China and India to quell the threat of North Korea.

Following talks, Beijing has said Kim Jong-un’s nuclear efforts will be shut down in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” operation by China and the United States.

China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui met Mr Tillerson and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to talk about the North and its threats to build a nuclear programme with continued missile testing.

Yang later met with US President Donald Trump in the White House, where they also discussed North Korea, Xinhua reported.

A consensus document released by the official Xinhua news agency said: “Both sides reaffirm that they will strive for the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.”