– Senate opposition –
If he is officially nominated, Tillerson can expect sharp questioning during confirmation hearings in the US Senate.
Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat and senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, slammed the idea of Tillerson as secretary of state as “alarming and absurd.”
“With Rex Tillerson as our Secretary of State, the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the president’s cabinet guiding our nation’s foreign policy,” he said in a statement.
“The term conflict of interest doesn’t even begin to describe the web of dubious business interests and bank accounts that Tillerson and his company Exxon shares with Vladimir Putin and Russian oil companies.”
On the Republican side, Senator John McCain expressed “concerns” over Tillerson’s links to Putin, whom the senator called “a thug and a murderer.”
“We will have hearings on that issue and other issues concerning him will be examined,” McCain told CNN. “That’s the time to make up your mind as to whether to vote yes or no.”
Tillerson was awarded Russia’s Order of Friendship by Putin following several years of Exxon projects in the country, including a deal to work with state-controlled oil company Rosneft, media reports said.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he didn’t know much about Tillerson, but “if you received an award from the Kremlin, [an] Order of Friendship, then we’re gonna have some talkin’,” Graham told the Washington Post.
“I don’t want to prejudge the guy, but that’s a bit unnerving.”
The unpredictable Trump could still change his mind. Candidates under consideration over the past weeks include Bolton, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former CIA director David Petraeus, among several others.
The outspoken former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is no longer in the mix: Trump announced in a statement Friday that Giuliani had removed himself from the running.
