I read it this way:
Rex forced the issue when he spoke to pegula in private. Pegula was decided that he would move on from Rex already and let Rex know man-to-man when Rex raised the question. Had Rex not forced th issue, the decision would've been made this week and Whaley would've been in the middle of the conversation. If Rex was Whaley's guy, then he might've tried to talk to pegula about the decision. Not questioning means he was 100% in favor of it.
Given how it played out, Whaley could say he was not privy to the conversation, and he hadn't really thought about the firing, rather he simply moved on and didn't question the move.