By Peter Nicholas and Bradley Olson
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Exxon Mobil
Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, a
transition official said Saturday, a selection that would reach
outside the traditional foreign policy establishment to elevate a
global business deal-maker.
Mr. Trump hasn't yet made a final decision, the official said,
but the president-elect heaped praise on Mr. Tillerson in an
interview released Saturday.
"He's more than a business executive; he's a world-class
player," Mr. Trump told Fox News in the interview, to be broadcast
Sunday. "He's in charge of I guess the largest company in the
world."
Mr. Trump called it "a great advantage" that Mr. Tillerson
already knows "many of the players," noting that he does "massive
deals in Russia."
Those deals would be certain to come under scrutiny in
confirmation hearings before the Senate. A number of Republicans
have urged Mr. Trump to be wary of Russia, warning that it is
trying to expand its influence in ways that run counter to U.S.
interests in places such as Ukraine and Syria.
The nomination would also put Mr. Trump's intentions toward
Russia in the spotlight just as controversy is intensifying over
reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that a
Russian-led hacking effort of U.S. email accounts was intended to
boost Mr. Trump's election chances.
Mr. Tillerson, 64 years old, met privately with Mr. Trump on
Saturday, four days after their first meeting.
Among those considered for the post, Mr. Tillerson has perhaps
the closest ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, having
negotiated a 2011 energy partnership deal with Russia that Mr.
Putin said could eventually be worth as much as $500 billion. In
2012, the Kremlin bestowed the country's Order of Friendship
decoration on Mr. Tillerson.
This pre-existing relationship with Mr. Putin complements Mr.
Trump's push to improve U.S.-Russia ties.
Since Mr. Trump began vetting candidates for secretary of state,
Mr. Tillerson's stock has climbed steadily. He moved ahead of
better-known hopefuls with established political credentials --
including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- who
had multiple conversations with Mr. Trump about the job. Mr.
Tillerson is viewed by some of Mr. Trump's advisers as a
mold-breaking pick who would bring an executive's experience to the
diplomatic role, said a person involved in the process.
Tapping Mr. Tillerson for the job would be a "Trumpian" move,
the transition official said.
Mr. Trump is expected to make a formal announcement about his
State Department pick in the coming days.
An Exxon spokesman declined to comment.
Mr. Trump said in a statement on Friday that former New York
Mayor Rudy Giuliani had taken himself out of the running for the
diplomatic job and other administration posts late last month.
With Mr. Trump's decision not yet final, other candidates who
remain in the running, apart from Mr. Romney, are former Central
Intelligence Agency director David Petraeus, former U.S. Ambassador
to the United Nations John Bolton, and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R.,
Tenn.), people familiar with the matter said.
If Mr. Trump selects Mr. Tillerson, it would add a seasoned
business executive to a team that already includes three retired
generals. As Exxon's CEO since 2006, Mr. Tillerson could leverage
existing relationships with numerous world leaders.
Exxon has a large global presence, and this could introduce
sticky conflicts of interest if Mr. Tillerson is selected. The
company explores for oil and gas on six of the world's continents
and has operations in more than 50 countries.
Mr. Tillerson, who is slated to retire next year, has retirement
funds worth tens of millions of dollars, a value that could
potentially be affected by State Department activities. For
example, he could benefit from such potential department actions as
the lifting of sanctions on Russia.
Democrats signaled that they would raise such issues in a
confirmation hearing. Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), a Foreign
Relations Committee member, said Mr. Tillerson would bring a number
of conflicts of interest to the job and called his expected
nomination "alarming and absurd," offering Russia "a willing
accomplice in the president's cabinet guiding our nation's foreign
policy."
The Obama administration and European allies have imposed
several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia following its
annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Obama administration also has
accused the Kremlin of backing militants in eastern Ukraine even
after the annexation of Crimea.
As Exxon's CEO, Mr. Tillerson has spoken against sanctions on
Russia. Mr. Tillerson's work there dates to when Mr. Putin rose to
power after Boris Yeltsin's resignation.
"We always encourage the people who are making those decisions
to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really
harming with sanctions," he said at the company's annual meeting in
May 2014.
Mr. Tillerson grew up in Texas and in 1975 joined Exxon, where
he has spent his entire career. He has long been closely affiliated
with Republican politicians and the Boy Scouts of America, but he
has never worked in government.
While unusual, the choice of a corporate leader as secretary of
state wouldn't be unprecedented. George Shultz was the executive
vice president of engineering giant Bechtel before he became
secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, though Mr. Shultz
had been in government in a prior administration.
Mr. Trump also is expected to tap Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers
(R., Wash.) to lead the Interior Department, according to a person
familiar with the matter.
If confirmed by the Senate, she would lead Mr. Trump's efforts
to open up federal lands and waters to fossil-fuel development and
reverse environmental policies the Obama administration has
pursued.
Since her first election to Congress in 2004, Ms. McMorris
Rodgers has risen in the ranks and is now the
fourth-highest-ranking Republican in the House and the
highest-ranking GOP woman in Congress. She also serves on the
Energy and Commerce Committee.
--Damian Paletta, Amy Harder and Mara Gay contributed to this
article.
Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com and Bradley
Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2016 20:45 ET (01:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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