It’s Official: Trump Picks Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson To Lead The State Department
By Tyler Durden
Update: It's official, moments ago President-elect Trump confirmed he will nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be his secretary of state
* * *
After days of speculation and strawmen, and following Mitt Romney's statement earlier, AP is reporting that President-elect Donald Trump has selected Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department, according to two people close to Trump's transition team.
The decision caps a lengthy process that often played out In public and exposed rifts within Trump's transition team. But Tillerson's close ties to Russia could still complicate his Senate confirmation hearings.
Trump was set to formally announce Tillerson's nomination Tuesday morning. The people close to Trump's transition insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the pick ahead of that announcement.
If approved, Tillerson would be the first secretary of state in modern history without previous government experience, The Washington Post reported.
As KCTV5 reports, he is being called a controversial pick, partly because of his ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Putin gave the CEO a Russian government award three years ago after Exxon-Mobil cut a major oil deal with a Russian company.
Russia has recently been accused of hacking in an effort to influence the result of the presidential election in Trump's favor. President Barack Obama ordered an investigation Friday into Russian influence on the election.
Trump dismissed concerns about Russia in an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, deeming the matter “ridiculous.”
The president-elect also used the interview to praise Tillerson for his business acumen and noted the CEO would be useful in matters regarding Russia because he “knows many of the players and he knows them well.”
He tweeted Sunday about reports that Tillerson would be getting the nomination, calling the CEO “a world class player and dealmaker.”
Trump tweeted this evening that his announcement will be tomorrow morning…
I will be making my announcement on the next Secretary of State tomorrow morning.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2016
As we noted previously, the 64-year-old Texas oilman, whose friends describe as a staunch conservative, emerged as a Secretary of State contender only last week following a meeting with Trump, when it was speculated that he would consider the offer “due to his sense of patriotic duty and because he is set to retire from the company next year.” Tillerson's appointment would introduce the potential for sticky conflicts of interest because of his financial stake in Exxon: he owns Exxon shares worth $151 million, according to recent securities filings.
A quick biographical sketch of Tillerson courtesy of the WSJ:
The son of a local Boy Scouts administrator, Tillerson was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. He attended the University of Texas, where he studied civil engineering, was a drummer in the Longhorn band and participated in a community service-oriented fraternity.
He joined Exxon in 1975 and has spent his entire career at the company.
For most of his adult life, he has also been closely involved with the Boy Scouts of America, even occasionally …read more
Source: It’s Official: Trump Picks Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson To Lead The State Department
