WASHINGTON (AP) – 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 Trump up 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 Tuesday 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.