The uncertainty Trump has raised around these questions, including among a number of congressional Republicans, inevitably shadows his expected nomination of ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Both Republicans and Democrats have already warned Tillerson will face “intense scrutiny over his two-decade relationship with Russian Federation, which awarded him its Order of Friendship in 2013”, says the newspaper.
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As for Tillerson, Trump says he sees the business leader’s ties with Moscow as a selling point, along with his “vast experience at dealing successfully with all types of foreign governments”.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday officially announced that he plans to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be the next secretary of state.
Trump nonetheless moved forward with Tillerson’s nomination, making it official in a statement Tuesday morning.
In 2011, Tillerson sealed a deal with Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft on behalf of ExxonMobil, giving Exxon access to the Russian Arctic and Rosneft a stake in the USA company’s projects in North America. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that Tillerson “fulfills his responsibilities in a highly professional manner”, and Putin himself has entertained Tillerson on several occasions.
The oil executive beat out several high profile candidates for the job, including Trump loyalist and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who took his name out of the running, and former MA governor Mitt Romney, who had been a Trump critic during the campaign. Photo: Alexsey Druginyn/RIA Novosti/Reuters Putin gave him the Order of Friendship, one of the highest honors Russian Federation gives foreign citizens. Romney announced Monday that he was no longer in the running to be America’s chief diplomat.
Republicans in the Senate such as Sen.
Trump’s secretary of state will be tasked with overseeing global relations for a political novice who seems intent on trashing protocol and upending relationships built on decades of delicate diplomacy.
Tillerson’s ExxonMobil duties involved working on major oil projects with Russia, including a partnership with the Russian oil giant Rosneft.
It’s those Russian connections that could now lead to a tough confirmation battle for Tillerson.
Tillerson said he shares Trump’s vision for restoring the credibility of the United States’ foreign relations and advancing American national security. And on Capitol Hill, leading Republicans have already expressed anxieties about Tillerson, as they contend with intelligence assessments saying Russian Federation interfered with the USA presidential election to help Trump.
Trump’s decision to consider Romney, who fiercely criticized him during the campaign, was strongly opposed by some members of his transition team, who saw the potential nomination as a betrayal to longtime supporters.
The Republican National Committee chairman said, “Tillerson had to maintain relationships across the world in many places that aren’t the easiest places to have relationships, during many different (presidential) administrations”. Trump and his transition team have rejected the allegations as ridiculous.
Trump and Tillerson possess similar dealmaking business backgrounds and similar views of the world, sources said, and there was a level of comfort that Trump hadn’t found with anyone else.
A native Texan Tillerson began his career at Exxon Company, in 1975 as a production engineer.
A group of USA state attorneys general is investigating Exxon for allegedly misleading the public about climate change and some environmental groups are alarmed Exxon’s CEO could be America’s top diplomat.
Tillerson’s confirmation hearings in the Senate are likely to be a bitter and emotional struggle.
“No new deals will be done during my term (s) in office”, Trump said.
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Tillerson has foreign experience from years of cutting deals with foreign countries for his company, the world’s largest energy firm.
