Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s appearance on the witness stand Monday in the trial of former Trump inaugural committee chairman and real estate executive Thomas Barrack ended with a series of pointed questions from a Brooklyn federal prosecutor.

Former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the stand as a government witness at the trial of Barrack yesterday. Photo: Jeenah Moon /Bloomberg

Assistant U.S. attorney Hiral Mehta of the Eastern District of New York first asked Tillerson to confirm that he was a private citizen when he was chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, before his tenure in Trump’s cabinet. Tillerson said yes.