Tuesday, December 13th 2016
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — Donald Trump’s announced early Tuesday morning on his decision to nominate former Exxon Mobil CEO, Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department has led to an outpouring of support and concerns over the country’s next chief diplomat.
After 40 years working at Exxon Mobil, Tillerson has developed extensive business ties across the globe, working and negotiating with foreign governments and businesses in at least 50 countries. He managed more than 75,000 employees at a the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, valued at $363 billion and could soon take over at the State Department, another global organization with a $65 billion operating budget and around 30,000 employees.
The energy mogul’s worldly experience and personal relationships with foreign leaders from Russia to China to Venezuela and the Middle East and elsewhere, may work both for and against. As his nomination comes up before the Senate next month, lawmakers are getting ready to thoroughly investigate a potentially vast entanglement of commercial interests that skeptics worry will color his views of U.S. foreign policy interests.
Above all other foreign entanglements, lawmakers are looking most closely at Tillerson’s public ties to Russia. Exxon Mobil has billions of dollars in projects in Russia, and reportedly lost $1 billion as a result of President Barack Obama’s sanctions on Russia, which spoiled an Arctic oil exploration contract between Tillerson’s company and Russian state energy giant, Rosneft. Additionally, in honor of his work, Tillerson was awarded a Russian Order of Friendship in 2013 for signing the massive oil exploration contract with Rosneft.
After more than two years of chilly relations between Washington and Moscow, Tillerson’s ties to Russia’s may be too much for both Republicans and Democrats to swallow as they hold hearings and vote on his nomination beginning next month. If it’s any indication of the future of U.S.-Russian relations, John Hamre, the president of the Washington think-tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Tillerson “has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger.”
Career ambassador and director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia center, John Herbst, explained that in light of legitimate concerns over Tillerson’s Russian connections and the current geopolitical climate, his nomination may not even make it out of committee to the floor of the Senate.
“Politically, this is not a smart move for Trump,” Herbst said, noting the number of Senate Republicans who have expressed skepticism about Tillerson. “For some reason, Russia is an important issue for Trump and he wants a guy on this issue who may have the wrong views and he is willing to fly in the face of Congress to get his way,” he added.
For Tillerson’s nomination to move forward, he will need ten senators on the Foreign Relations Committee to approve his nomination, meaning every Republican will have to approve, or he will need Democratic support. While no one on the committee has spoken out directly against Tillerson’s nomination, a number of Democrats have called Trump’s pick into question, while on the Republican side, so far only Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has voiced deep skepticism.
Tillerson faces “formidable odds” and could be blocked in committee, Herbst noted. “If he equivocates under questioning on Russia, it can easily happen,” he added.
In a statement on Tuesday, one-time Trump opponent, Marco Rubio expressed his “serious concerns about his nomination.” He later tweeted that Tillerson’s apparent friendship with Putin “is not an attribute I am hoping for from a [Secretary of State].”
“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,” Rubio said.
The ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) says he intends to give Tillerson a fair hearing, but he did not hide his skepticism of possible conflicts of interest that could impact Tillerson’s judgment.
“I am deeply troubled by Mr. Tillerson’s vocal opposition to U.S. sanctions on Russia following its illegal invasion, occupation and annexation of Crimea, Ukraine, and his close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin,” Cardin said. The senator added that while Tillerson has a proven track record of putting shareholders’ interests first “it remains to be seen” whether he will put the national security interests of the American people first.
With rising concerns and new Senate and Obama administration investigations into Russian hacking and its impact on the 2016 election, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) predicted on Tuesday that “there will not be unanimous consent” coming out of his confirmation hearing. That hearing is scheduled to take place in early January before Trump’s inauguration, according to committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn).
The narrow majority Republicans hold over Democrats in the Senate, means that even if Tillerson does make it through committee, he is certain to face “a challenging confirmation process,” senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies Russian program, Jeffrey Mankoff said. With the makeup of the 115th Congress, it would take at least four Republicans to defect and reject Tillerson, along with the entire Democratic caucus.
It is far from being determined whether Trump wants to turn his selection of Secretary of State into “a significant battle” and whether Trump “wants to use its political capital on this particular fight” ahead of his nomination, Mankoff suggested. For Tillerson’s nomination to be blocked, at least four Republicans would have to defect along with the entire Democratic caucus.
On Monday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), reacted to the possibility of a Tillerson nomination saying, “I am concerned about his relationship with Vladimir Putin.” After listing a series of objectionable Russian actions in Ukraine, the Eastern Europe, Syria, and cyberspace, McCain made clear that despite his worries, Tillerson is entitled to a “fair hearing,” and should have the chance to “make his case” before the Senate. “We should not prejudge him,” McCain said. “But when he gets the friendship award from a butcher, frankly it’s an issue that I think needs to be examined.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who has been selected to lead the Armed Services hearings to investigate the Russian cyber threat to the United States, is looking carefully at Tillerson. Graham said on Twitter that he anticipates US-Russian relations will be “front and center in his confirmation process.” In the past two years, the highest ranking officials in President Obama’s Defense Department have testified to the Armed Services Committee that Russia poses the greatest threat to U.S. national security.
Despite his detractors, Tillerson received high-level endorsements throughout the day on Tuesday, which may influence some lawmakers. Former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice, James Baker voiced their support for the oil CEO. Former Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates said Tillerson would be “a global champion of the best values of our country.” Even former Vice President Dick Cheney who has not been publicly supportive of Donald Trump, gave Tillerson his endorsement.
For many experts and lawmakers, the issue of Tillerson’s business experience is a potential positive. He would not be the first CEO to head the U.S. State Department or serve in a major diplomatic post. President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State, George Schultz served as the CEO of Bechtel Corp., the largest construction and civil engineering company in the United States. Top U.S. diplomat Averill Harriman was the founder of the Wall Street firm, Brown Brothers & Harriman. Other ranking diplomats have had extensive financial and business ties, but like many of Trump’s decisions, none are quite as huge as Rex Tillerson’s.
“It is not all bad that [Tillerson] has got forty years of experience globally in business,” Sen. Coons said in a briefing on Capitol Hill. “But it raises, I think, serious and legitimate questions about potential conflicts of interest and about his priorities.” Those potential conflicts of interest will be the subject of what many Republicans and Democrats will ensure are deep and thorough hearings into how Tillerson’s financial holdings, his business ties might affect his relationships with American allies and adversaries.
One of the first conflict of interest tests Tillerson will face if he is confirmed, will be the issue of rolling over U.S. sanctions against Russia. The sanctions were originally imposed in coordination with the European Union. They targeted top Russian officials and cut off Russia’s access to western oil and gas exploration technologies. Multiple rounds of sanctions were imposed on Russia beginning in March 2014 and at the time, Tillerson strongly opposed the measures threatened a multi-million dollar contract for Arctic oil exploration with Russia’s Rosneft.
“He took a visible public stand against the sanctions on Russia for its aggression in Ukraine,” Herbst said. “It was the wrong policy call.”
Beginning on his first day in office, President Trump will have the option of repealing President Obama’s Russia sanctions through a simple executive order, if he chooses. Trump’s inauguration will also coincide with the European Union’s early 2017 vote on whether or not to extend its own anti-Russian sanctions for another six months, a decision that could certainly be affected by how America’s partners in Europe perceive the incoming administration’s relationship to Russia.
The former ambassador raised his own serious doubts about how well Donald Trump understands the real challenges of the U.S.-Russian relationship and what he sees as the need for “strong policies against Putin’s aggression.”
Herbst emphasized, “It is important that we have people in office who understand that at senior levels,” Herbst emphasized. “There is no indication that Tillerson gets it. So that is disturbing.”
http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/senate-prepares-nomination-showdown-over-trumps-secretary-of-state-pick-rex-tillerson
