In October 2017, news reports surfaced regarding a deteriorating relationship between Tillerson and Trump. According to reports, in a July 20 meeting, Trump suggested a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which would cost trillions and take centuries, after which individuals familiar with the meeting told journalists that Tillerson either called Trump a "moron" or a "fucking moron". Additionally, there were well-sourced reports of Tillerson offering to resign his office as Secretary of State, only to be discouraged from doing so by Vice President Mike Pence; however, these were officially denied both by Tillerson and by the White House. Furthermore, on October 1, Trump directly contradicted, via a public tweet, Tillerson's policy of negotiation with North Korea; this move was widely panned by experts, who thought such a public undermining of the U.S.'s chief diplomat would weaken his ability to negotiate. On October 10, after Tillerson's alleged "moron" comment was reported in the media, Trump challenged Tillerson to "IQ tests", and three days later Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee, the chair of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee who had become a vocal Trump critic around that time, remarked that Trump was "publicly castrating" Tillerson.