President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of State is evoking different responses from both sides of the aisle.
Trump tweeted that he picked ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Supporters of his choice include former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and James Baker, and former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, sources told CNN.
Tillerson, 64, Trump said, was picked because of his “mastery of complex negotiations and knowledge of geopolitical factors shaping the oil industry are directly relevant to heading US diplomacy and managing the State Department,” CNN reported.
Some Congressional Republicans are leery of Trump’s decision – Tillerson has no formal foreign policy experience, and he has a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He, however, has built close relationships with many world leaders by closing massive deals across Eurasia and the Middle East on behalf of the world’s largest energy company, CNN reported.
CNN speculated that Tillerson’s appointment could be the first big showdown between the new White House and Capitol Hill, and set a benchmark for Republicans worried about the direction of the President-elect’s own foreign policy. It will also embolden Democrats who see Tillerson as perhaps the most vulnerable Trump Cabinet appointee to a bruising Senate confirmation battle, CNN reported.
Do you agree with Donald Trump’s choice of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State?
