Trump administration Tillerson tapped to lead State Dept.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department, dismissing concerns about the businessman’s close ties with Russia, two people close to Trump’s transition said Monday night.

Trump’s decision caps a lengthy process that often played out in public and exposed rifts within his transition team. It also sets up Trump for a potential fight with Congress over confirming Tillerson, who has connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump was set to announce Tillerson’s nomination this morning. The people close to his transition team insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the decision ahead of that announcement.

The president-elect had moved toward choosing Tillerson after a meeting Saturday, their second discussion in a week. Trump was said to be drawn to the prospect of having an international businessman serve as the nation’s top diplomat.

But the prospect of Tillerson’s nomination sparked immediate concern on Capitol Hill. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter that “being a ‘friend of Vladimir’” was not an attribute he was seeking in a secretary of state.

In a weekend interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Trump pointed to Tillerson’s deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. As Exxon Mobil’s head, he maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, an honor for a foreign citizen.

“A great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company,” Trump said.

Other candidates considered by Trump included former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, once a vocal Trump critic, and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who leads the Foreign Relations Committee.

Congress’ top Republicans, meanwhile, endorsed investigations into the CIA’s belief that Russia meddled in last month’s election to help Trump win, suggesting potential battles ahead with the incoming commander- in-chief over Moscow and U.S. intelligence.

“The Russians are not our friends,” declared Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as GOP leaders steered toward a path contrasting starkly with the president-elect’s belittling dismissal of the spy agency’s assessment and his past praise for Putin.

The Senate’s intelligence panel, led by Richard Burr, R-N.C., will conduct a bipartisan inquiry, according to McConnell, who also expressed support for a related probe by the Armed Services Committee, chaired by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Though declining to say whether he believes Russia tried tilting the election toward Trump, McConnell said, “I hope that those who are going to be in positions of responsibility in the new administration share my view” about Moscow.

Shortly afterward, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released a statement backing an investigation the House Intelligence Committee has already started on cyber threats posed by foreign countries and extremist groups. He called any Russian intervention “especially problematic because under President Putin, Russia has been an aggressor that consistently undermines American interests.”

Underscoring the possible collisions ahead between Trump and the men leading his party in Congress, McConnell and Ryan struck tones markedly more confrontational toward Russia than he has.

Trump on Sunday called the CIA’s contention “ridiculous” and blamed the disclosures concerning its assessment on Democrats who he said were embarrassed over losing last month’s election.

The GOP leaders expressed their views after a weekend in which Trump also said he would not need daily intelligence briefings, a staple of presidents’ days for decades and a flouting of a convention common for presidential transitions.

The president-elect continued his cavalcade of meetings in his Trump Tower offices in New York on Monday with potential appointees for his new administration and other leading GOP, congressional and corporate figures. Among them was Carly Fiorina, who unsuccessfully vied with Trump this year for their party’s nomination.

Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, was there to discuss national security issues and is seen by some Trump advisers as a candidate to be director of national intelligence, overseeing the government’s 17 intelligence agencies. She chaired an external CIA advisory board under President George W. Bush but has not worked for the federal government.

Fiorina said her conversation with Trump included “hacking, whether it’s Chinese hacking or purported Russian hacking.”

Others meeting with Trump included moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, No. 3 House GOP leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another GOP presidential contender whom Trump defeated.