Trump Picks Exxon Mobil’s Tillerson as Secretary of State
- Tillerson would be first oil executive in chief diplomatic job
- Lawmakers have questioned Tillerson’s relationship with Putin
Rose: Tillerson Pick Intersects With Trump-Russia Angle
Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson will be nominated as President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state, setting up a confirmation battle with U.S. lawmakers who have questioned the oilman’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s team rallied support for the Tillerson selection with endorsements from two prominent members of the Republican foreign policy establishment: ex-Defense Secretary and CIA Director Robert Gates and Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state who had opposed the president-elect during the campaign. Gates noted that Exxon is a client of RiceHadleyGates, the consultancy in which he and Rice are principals, but said they had long known each other.