President Trump suggested comparing IQ tests with his secretary of state after Rex Tillerson reportedly called him a “moron.”

“I think it’s fake news, but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests,” Trump told Forbes magazine in an interview published online Tuesday. “And I can tell you who is going to win.”

During a White House meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Trump denied that his IQ comment undercuts Tillerson.

“No, I didn’t undercut anybody. I don’t believe in undercutting people,” Trump said.

The White House claimed the media was making a big deal out of the president’s comments that were made in jest.

“The president certainly never implied that the secretary of state was not intelligent. He made a joke. Nothing more than that,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during a news briefing Tuesday, adding that Trump has “100 percent confidence” in Tillerson.

Pressed on the relationship between the two men, Sanders responded: “He made a joke. Maybe you guys should get a sense of humor and try it sometime.”

She also said the two had a “great visit at lunch.”

​Tillerson referred to the president as a “moron” and was on the verge of resigning ​during the summer ​after he clashed with the administration until Vice President Mike Pence​ managed to persuade him to stay in the post until at least the end of the year, NBC reported last Wednesday.

Tillerson, in a hastily called news conference at the State Department that same day, pushed back on the claim that he came close to resigning but wouldn’t deny the “moron” comment.

​”The vice president has never had to persuade me to remain as secretary of state because I have never considered leaving this post,” Tillerson said​ at the news conference.​

Asked about the “moron” comment, Tillerson sidestepped the question.

​”The places I come from, we don’t deal with that kind of petty nonsense,” Tillerson said. “I’m just not going to be part of this effort to divide this administration​.”

Trump called the report “Fake News” in a tweet.

“Rex Tillerson never threatened to resign. This is Fake News put out by @NBCNews. Low news and reporting standards. No verification from me​,” he tweeted last Thursday.​

Later Tuesday, Trump is expected to have lunch with Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis at the White House.

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