Donald Trump’s decision to nominate the head of the biggest oil company in the world as America’s top diplomat on Tuesday triggered widespread alarm among environmentalists and critics of Russian influence.
The president-elect named Rex Tillerson, the president and chief executive of ExxonMobil, as his nominee for secretary of state after an intensive and very public search.
The pick appeared to divide Republicans and dismay Democrats, setting up an early battle of wills between Trump and Congress. Senators from both parties have raised concerns about Tillerson’s lack of government experience and close ties to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Trump hailed Tillerson as “among the most accomplished business leaders and international deal makers in the world” in a statement released on Tuesday by his transition team. “His tenacity, broad experience and deep understanding of geopolitics make him an excellent choice for secretary of state. He will promote regional stability and focus on the core national security interests of the United States.”
The announcement of the oil executive for the role came after a selection process, played out in front of TV cameras, that considered figures including the former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the former CIA director David Petraeus.
But Tillerson’s confirmation hearings are likely to be a bitter and emotional struggle. He is a recipient of Moscow’s Order of Friendship, having grown close to Putin and his circle while working on oil exploration in Russia, which was frozen when the US imposed sanctions in 2014. He may also face questions over the potential benefits to ExxonMobil from US foreign policy if sanctions imposed on Russia after its annexation of Crimea were lifted.
Republican hawks have made clear the ExxonMobil boss would have to convince them he would be tough on Russia and supportive of Nato to get through confirmation in the Senate, where the defection of only three Republicans would be sufficient to block the appointment and hand Trump an early setback. Already, three Republican senators have expressed misgivings: John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio.
Rubio, a senator for Florida who ran against Trump in the presidential primaries, said: “While Rex Tillerson is a respected businessman, I have serious concerns about his nomination. The next secretary of state must be someone who views the world with moral clarity, is free of potential conflicts of interest, has a clear sense of America’s interests, and will be a forceful advocate for America’s foreign policy goals to the president, within the administration, and on the world stage.”
Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina senator who also ran against Trump, added: “Based upon his extensive business dealings with the Putin government and his previous opposition of efforts to impose sanctions on the Russian government, there are many questions which must be answered. I expect the US-Russian relationship to be front and center in his confirmation process.”
But in an early sign of faultlines within the party, Trump loyalists rallied around the selection. Speaking at the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank in Washington, Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House, goaded critics: “I’m going to confess up front here, Tillerson has a huge problem. He’s successful. Being successful in the largest corporation in the world, he’s actually been involved in making money.”
As the audience burst into laughter, Gingrich continued: “Now, if you’re John Kerry or Hillary Clinton or the entire state department, and your entire career’s been one of going around the world unsuccessfully negotiating non-agreements, Tillerson is horrifying. I mean, what if he actually effectively represents America? What if we actually get good deals that make big jobs in America? What if he’s actually able to explain Trumpism to the world?”
Gingrich, delivering an address entitled The Principles of Trumpism, added: “He’s going to be so well received around the planet that, combined with [defence secretary] Jim Mattis, he automatically changes who people think Trump is.”
There was also support from Condoleezza Rice, a former secretary of state who refused to endorse Trump for president. She said: “I know Rex as a successful businessman and a patriot. He will represent the interests and the values of the United States with resolve and commitment. And he will lead the exceptional men and women of the state department with respect and dedication.”
Senior Democrats, however, promised Tillerson a rough ride in the confirmation process. The party’s incoming Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said the businessman would be “asked the most serious questions about his relationship with Russia, his disturbing opposition to sanctions on Russia, the Paris climate agreement, and how he views Putin”.
The House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, told MSNBC: “The coziness with Vladimir Putin is very alarming and should have eliminated him, frankly. Right now, his approach to the sanctions on Russia, because of their aggression in Europe, should be enough to say: perhaps another relationship with the administration, but not secretary of state.”
Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said Tillerson would receive a “fair and open” hearing but he expected the businessman would face tough questions from senators of both parties about his priorities as the country’s top diplomat.
“It troubles me greatly that Mr Tillerson would have reason to advocate for the rolling back of sanctions because that would in the best interest of his company,” the Democrat from Delaware told reporters on Tuesday.
As an indication of where lawmakers on Capitol Hill stand on Russia, Coons noted that the Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, convened a breakfast las week with a dozen senators and the ambassadors and legislators from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Tillerson’s relationship with Putin would be less of a concern, Coons said, if the president-elect hadn’t exhibited a soft spot for the Russian leader throughout the campaign.
“If we saw a national security team, a group of senior advisers, who were clear-eyed about Russia’s sustained efforts – overt and covert – to undermine Democracy across central and western Europe, I would be less concerned about this particular piece of Rex Tillerson’s business leadership,” said Coons.
The nomination came shortly after a CIA assessment that Russia sought to meddle in the election on Trump’s behalf. Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House permanent select committee on intelligence, said: “There was celebrating in the Duma on the night Donald Trump was elected president; with this choice, the celebration in Moscow goes on.”
The White House noted that Tillerson’s Order of Friendship award chimed with Trump’s repeated calls for warmer relations with Russia. Press secretary Josh Earnest said he expected lawmakers from both sides would ask probing questions. “Mr Tillerson is a seasoned business executive and he’s got some skills in answering tough questions in public, and I suspect he’ll have to put them to use in the spring.”
Tillerson, who has spent the past 41 years at Exxon, was due to retire next year. According to regulatory filings, he retains a huge financial interest in the oil company, owning $151m in company stock. In 2015, Tillerson’s total compensation, including salary, bonus and new share awards, was worth $27.3m.
ExxonMobil has operations in more than 50 countries and has partnered with Qatar’s state oil company, Qatar Petroleum, on a project to build a natural gas terminal on the Gulf of Mexico. The company is also under investigation for misleading investors about what it knew about climate change.
Greenpeace UK’s executive director, John Sauven, said: “So a real-life JR Ewing becomes America’s chief diplomat as Donald Trump does away with the usual intermediaries and directly outsources foreign policy to the fossil fuel industry. We spent years warning that Exxon was too close to the US government. Now they are the government.”
It was also reported on Tuesday that Trump would pick former Texas governor Rick Perry as his energy secretary. The irony was not lost on political observers who recalled a 2011 Republican primary debate in which Perry said: “It’s three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone – commerce, education and the, um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see.” He later clarified that he meant to say energy.
Additional reporting by Dominic Rushe and Alan Yuhas
