Confirmed by the transition team, Tillerson is Secretary of State (SOS) nominee. Normally there is a deference to new presidents and their nominees but the storm clouds are already gathering over this one.
Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will nominate oil tycoon Rex Tillerson to be secretary of State, setting up a potential confrontation with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill who are uneasy with the Exxon Mobil chief executive’s close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a brief statement released by his transition office early Tuesday morning, Trump praised Tillerson, 64, as “among the most accomplished business leaders and international dealmakers in the world” and said he would be a “forceful and clear-eyed advocate for America’s vital national interests.”
The announcement came as Trump finds himself increasingly at odds with members of his own party over his favorable posture toward Russia. Senate Republicans have already announced they will move forward with a bipartisan investigation of Russian meddling in the presidential election, even as Trump mocked intelligence reports that Putin’s government sought to help him win the race.
In picking Tillerson, Trump is launching a battle of wills with some high-profile congressional Republicans, including the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has spent the last several days signaling discomfort with the choice.
The nomination will probably test senators’ appetites for defying Trump’s administration and reveal what, if any, political price is to be paid by those who do so.
Anything short of full GOP support in the Senate could doom a Tillerson nomination, as nearly all Democrats are likely to oppose him based both on objections to his Russia ties and on their concerns about Exxon’s environmental record.
Trump aides hope to win over wavering senators with high-profile endorsements of Tillerson from mainstream GOP foreign policy figures, including former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Condoleezza Rice. They will also argue that Tillerson’s ability to close business deals in some of the most politically volatile spots in the world positioned him well for the job as the nation’s top diplomat.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol ... story.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan