President Donald Trump has failed to unequivocally back Secretary of State Rex Tillerson - after reports saying the White House is looking to remove the official from his post.
Asked by reporters if he still wanted Mr Tillerson in the job, the president merely said: “He's here. Rex is here”.
The White House gave a similar statement, saying that Mr Tillerson continues to lead the State Department and “there are no personnel announcements at this time”.
But given that the Trump White House has on several occasions announced personnel changes with no forewarning, there is still the possibility that Mr Tillerson could be permanently gone from State Department headquarters by the end of the day.
Mr Trump is said to have soured on his Secretary of State, the New York Times reports, but it is unclear whether he has approved the White House proposal to replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
As part of the plan, the Times wrote, Mr Pompeo's position at the CIA would be filled by Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who has become a White House ally on national security matters.
An expulsion of Mr Tillerson would be another dramatic shakeup to the Trump administration that has already seen multiple changes to its communications staff and the dismissal or resignation of several top officials.
In his first 10 months as President, Mr Trump has already pushed out his National Security Adviser, communications director and health secretary following controversies. He also dramatically fired his FBI Director in May.
Reports have been swirling for months that Mr Tillerson would be the next to go.
Earlier this year, it was said that Vice President Mike Pence had to persuade the top diplomat to stay with the administration after Mr Tillerson was reportedly unhappy with comments Mr Trump made in a speech to the Boy Scouts of America. But last month, the State Department organised an impromptu press briefing in which the Secretary of State denied reports that he wanted to resign.
Mr Tillerson said he would stay in the Trump administration as “long as he is useful”. Meanwhile, critics have condemned the way he has led the State Department, where several top posts continue to remain vacant.
Mr Trump and Mr Tillerson are also reported to have been at odds over a slew of major issues, including the Iran nuclear deal and the confrontation between the US and North Korea over the latter's expanding nuclear weapons programme. The President has said Mr Tillerson is “wasting his time” by trying to solve the crisis with Pyongyang through diplomacy.
The top diplomat is said to have called Mr Trump a “moron” - a report that he has not personally denied. A department spokesperson later said that the “the Secretary does not use that type of language”.
Republican Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he spoke to Mr Tillerson earlier on Thursday and that the Secretary of State is not planning on being ousted.
“He's conducting business, as is the norm, and is unaware of anything changing,” Mr Corker told reporters.
Mr Corker has his own sour relationship with Mr Trump. In October, the Tennessee senator who is not seeking re-election in 2018, admonished Mr Trump for trying to “castrate” his Secretary of State on diplomatic efforts.
