President Trump slammed reports indicating the White House was preparing to move on from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as “fake news” yesterday as his top diplomat brushed off speculation that he’s lost the confidence of the commander in chief.

“The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon — FAKE NEWS!” Trump tweeted. “He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!”

Trump’s tweet came after senior White House officials began telling reporters Thursday that the White House had devised a plan to push Tillerson out and replace him with CIA chief Mike Pompeo. Tillerson, who attended two meetings at the White House yesterday, called speculation that he was leaving “laughable.”

His aides said Tillerson would continue to serve until the president asked him not to and stressed that such a request had not been made.

Although Tillerson looks safe for now, he will be losing a senior aide and conduit to the public in coming weeks.

R.C. Hammond, who has run State Department strategic communications since Tillerson took office, will leave his post in mid-December, officials said.

According to senior White House officials, the plan to move on from Tillerson centered on replacing Tillerson with Pompeo, which would have led to a major realignment early in Trump’s term. It would create a vacancy atop the CIA that officials said could be filled by Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

Friction between the president and the nation’s top diplomat has grown increasingly public through the year.

After a report in October that Tillerson had called the president a “moron,” Tillerson appeared before cameras to pledge fealty to his boss. Soon after, Trump publicly challenged his secretary to an IQ match.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.