Julia Fair

USA TODAY

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday he has never considered resigning his job and called "erroneous" an NBC News report that said he was so frustrated with President Trump that he called him a "moron" during a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon.

Tillerson took the unusual step of making a televised statement following an NBC News report Wednesday morning that he considered resigning after the meeting and had to be counseled by Vice President Pence.

Marc Lotter, who was Pence's press secretary until this month, said on MSNBC the vice president talked to Tillerson "about the need to come together and make sure that everyone is moving forward with the message in the framework that is echoing what the president of the United States wants to have communicated."

"It shouldn't be characterized as a pep talk," Lotter said.

Trump tweeted that Tillerson "totally refuted" the NBC report. In Las Vegas, while meeting with shooting victims and first responders, Trump said: "I'm very honored by his comments. It was fake news from NBC. I have total confidence in Rex."

While Tillerson did not mention the word "moron" during his comments, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denied Tillerson used the word during an afternoon press briefing Wednesday.

Pence's office also pushed back on the report. "At no time did @VP & #SecState discuss prospect of Sec. resignation," tweeted Jarrod Agen, Pence's communications director.

Agen's statement didn't address whether Pence gave Tillerson advice on how to handle his disputes with the president.

Citing unnamed senior administration officials, NBC News said the "moron" comment came after Tillerson met with members of Trump's national security team and Cabinet officials.

The report said that while it's unclear whether Pence was aware of the incident, sources say he counseled Tillerson, giving him tips to ease tensions with the president.

Countering that report, Tillerson on Wednesday morning said Pence "never had to persuade" him to keep his job.

"My commitment to the president is strong," Tillerson said, and he called the president a "smart" man who "demands results."

Tensions between Trump and Tillerson seemed apparent on Sunday, with Trump on tweeting that Tillerson is "wasting his time" by trying to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” the president tweeted, using his nickname for North Korea's leader. “Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!”

Tillerson said, "I'm not going to be part of the effort to divide this nation."

In July, amid reports claiming Tillerson was stepping down, Nauert said he was “just taking a little time off."

There has been tension between Tillerson and the Trump administration over issues ranging from Iran policy to State Department personnel, according to several media reports. In June, the secretary of State unloaded on White House aide Johnny DeStefano over staffing issues.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders answered a question from reporters Wednesday if President Trump has confidence in Tillerson.

"As we've said many times before, if the president doesn't have confidence in somebody, they will no longer be in their position," she said.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee and works closely with Tillerson said Wednesday that the Trump administration State Department is "an incredibly frustraing place."following the report that Tillerson had called Trump a moron.

“I think that Secretary Tillerson, (Defense) Secretary [Jim] Mattis and Chief of Staff [John] Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos and I support them very much and I don’t know what (Tillerson) may have said after the briefing," Corker said. "I see what’s happening here. I deal with people throughout the administration and he, from my perspective, ... [Tillerson] ends up not being supported in the way that I would hope a secretary of State would be supported.

"And that’s just from my vantage point, but I have never, I have no knowledge of the comments or anything else. I think he’s in a very trying situation trying to solve many of the world’s problems a lot of time without the kind of support and help than I’d like to see him have.”

Corker said he hopes Tillerson, Mattis and Kelly "stay because they’re valuable to the national security of our nation, they’re valuable to us putting forth good policies. They’re very valuable as it relates to our citizens feeling safe and secure and I hope (Tillerson is) here for a long time.”

Contributing: Eliza Collins and Maureen Groppe