Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert on Wednesday joked that he is the only person allowed to call President Trump a "moron," poking fun at the reports that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne TillersonGary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November Kushner says 'Alice in Wonderland' describes Trump presidency: Woodward book Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE used the term to describe the president.

"Hold on there, Tillerson. Nobody calls our president a moron except me!" Colbert joked during "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

"And other world leaders, and ultimately history," he continued, asking why Tillerson would "say such a vicious, accurate thing about his boss?"

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NBC News reported on Wednesday that Tillerson called the president a "moron" over the summer, as he considered stepping down from his top diplomatic role.

The Trump administration dismissed the claims in the report.

Trump also took to Twitter to slam NBC News.

"The NBC News story has just been totally refuted by Sec. Tillerson and [Vice President] Pence. It is Fake News. They should issue an apology to AMERICA!" he wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. He called the network a "disgrace to reporting" in another.

Tillerson also said Wednesday during an impromptu news conference that top administration officials did not have to talk him out of quitting.

"The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of State because I have never considered leaving this post," the secretary said.

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When asked whether he called the president a moron, Tillerson did not directly answer.

"I'm just not going to deal with petty stuff like that," he said.

A State Department spokeswoman, however, later denied that Tillerson called the president a "moron."