Marco Rubio is not the only Republican senator to express concerns about President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state,Rex Tillerson, over his connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Rubio is the only skeptical Republican, so far, who has the power to derail Tillerson’s nomination before it reaches the Senate floor.
The Florida senator sits on the upper chamber’s 19-member Foreign Relations Committee, before which Tillerson’s nomination hearing will take place. If all nine Democrats on the panel vote against Tillerson, they would need only one of the committee’s 10 Republicans to join them to prevent the ExxonMobil CEO’s nomination from moving to the full Senate for a vote.
In a statement released this morning, Rubio said he had “serious concerns” about Tillerson but was committed to giving him a fair hearing.
“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.
He was referring to the deals Tillerson’s multinational oil and gas corporation has made with the Russian government, which helped him earn Russia’s 2013 Order of Friendship, one of the highest honors a foreigner can receive there.
As Tillerson’s selection seemed increasingly likely this weekend, Rubio tweeted a more pointed reaction:
Rubio is not the only Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee whose concerns about Tillerson’s Russia connections might push him to vote no. Members like Jeff Flake of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky could also oppose him, which, in procedural terms, would mean the committee would decline to recommend Tillerson to the full Senate.
But Rubio is the only one so far to voice his concerns. A source close to Paul said he was undecided on Tillerson and wants to hear more from him. Paul had publicly said he would adamantly oppose former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, who is now the likely pick for deputy secretary of state in Trump's administration, sources told ABC News.
That former Secretaries of State James Baker and Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates endorsed Tillerson “carries considerable weight” Flake said.
Baker’s law firm, Baker Botts, represents ExxonMobil, and Rice’s and Gates’ consulting firm, RiceHadleyGates, counts the oil company as a client.
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