Day -40: Unqualified Friend of Russia to Lead U.S. State Department
Donald Trump has tapped Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp., to be the next Secretary of State.
Tillerson, who seemingly has zero credentials for a job of this magnitude, is a good friend of Russia. You know, the same Russia that intelligence agencies unanimously agreed interfered with the U.S. election in an effort to help Donald Trump win.
Russian President and Trump BFF Vladimir Putin honored Tillerson with an Order of Friendship award in 2012.
On the other hand, Tillerson appears to have no real relationship with the vast majority of countries that do not have a seat at the global energy table.
Even John McCain, who we’ve implored to speak out forcefully against Trump but has thus far declined, has serious reservations about Tillerson saying, “I don’t know what Mr. Tillerson’s relationship with Vladimir Putin was, but I’ll tell you it is a matter of concern to me.”
It’s incredible that 48 hours ago the Washington Post breaks a story about Russian interference into the election and now a man with incredibly close ties to Russia is tapped to lead the State department.
Putting Russian concerns aside, in what is a running theme in the Trump administration, conflicts of interest abound. As Mother Jones notes:
As secretary of state, the energy CEO could also face significant potential conflicts of interest. He owns more than $150 million worth of shares in Exxon, according to the Wall Street Journal. He would have to divest from these shares, providing him a huge tax break. His company has operations in more than 50 countries.
In every sense of the phrase, it’s more business as usual for those inside Trump’s circle.
-40 days in, 1501 to go
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