TRUMP ZEROES IN ON EXXON CEO FOR SECRETARY OF STATE
Tillerson lacks diplomatic experience but does have ties to Putin
President- elect Donald Trump is zeroing in on ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of State nominee.
Tillerson had his second interview with the president- elect Saturday at Trump Tower and has emerged as the favorite in the long- running competition to lead the State Department, a person familiar with the transition deliberations told USA TODAY on condition of anonymity because Trump has yet to announce his pick.
Tillerson, 64, runs the world’s sixthlargest company, one with global connections — including some with Russian President Vladimir Putin. News of Tillerson’s emergence came as government officials accused the Russian government of seeking to interfere in the recent U. S. election, including hacks of Democratic officials’ emails — in an effort to boost Trump’s chances.
Putin and Russia have denied the alle- gations, while Trump has questioned the idea of Russian interference.
Trump has promised to cancel the Paris climate agreement negotiated by President Obama, so the nomination of an oil executive would send a powerful signal that the United States is prepared to buck the global consensus on greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump’s search for a secretary of State also has included interviews with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former New York City
mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker and retired general and ex- CIA director David Petraeus. After Trump aides said the list had been narrowed to those four, the president- elect expanded his list to include Tillerson.
Trump transition adviser Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC that Tillerson is a “very intriguing pick to many people. He’s already active in Russia and China and Yemen and the developing world, across our globe. He has the kind of business experience that Donald Trump values.”
Tillerson has worked for Exxon since graduating from college with an engineering degree in 1975. He was named CEO in 2006. He has no governmental or diplomatic experience, but he has negotiated with countries all over the world for oil exploration rights, particularly in the Middle East and Russia.
Of particular interest in his Senate confirmation hearings would be the $ 2.2 billion Exxon investment in Russian oil exploration in the Arctic Ocean, which Tillerson negotiated in 2011. That agreement, which allowed Russian investment in other Exxon ventures around the world, was scuttled after the U. S. imposed sanctions over Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Tillerson has maintained a personal relationship with Putin. His Exxon bio boasts that the Russian leader awarded him the Order of Friendship in 2013.
Tillerson has criticized sanctions as difficult to impose fairly. He has acknowledged that climate change has been caused by human activity and has endorsed a carbon tax as “the most efficient means of reflecting the cost of carbon in all economic decisions.”
Environmental groups are likely to oppose his Senate confirmation if he’s nominated. The New York attorney general is investigating whether ExxonMobil lied to investors and consumers about the risks of climate change from burning fossil fuels.