Secretary of State pick, Rex Tillerson, gets grilled in confirmation hearing

Rubio has been outspoken against Putin for months now, calling him a “threat to global stability”.

Marco Rubio asked if Tillerson would advise Trump to sign a bill imposing sanctions on Russian Federation for such cyber attacks, Tillerson said he’d have concerns about doing that.

Trump called the bombshell a false “witch hunt” and it was an unexpected backdrop to the confirmation of Tillerson, who has had a two-decade long personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“To achieve the stability that is foundational to peace and security in the 21st century, American leadership must not only be renewed, it must be asserted”, Tillerson said in a prepared statement. “Then we will have a plan to protect civilians in Syria”, he said. When Tillerson attempted to dance around the question by asserting that he would like to have “much more information before reaching a conclusion”, Rubio kept pressing.

“The depth and breadth of his experience as an accomplished and successful business leader and skilled negotiator give him a solid understanding of our current geopolitical and economic challenges, making him uniquely qualified to serve in this important office”, said his home state, Sen.

“In carrying out the State Department’s diplomacy we need a strong deterrent in our hand…it is useful to have a stick in your hand, whether you use it or not it is useful to have”. “This is one of the many issues I look forward to hearing more about during the upcoming confirmation hearings”.

REX TILLERSON: I would want to be fully informed before advising the president.

“Yes sir”, Mr. Tillerson answered. These people are dead.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination for Secretary of State has received a grilling from the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO: Well, are you aware that people who oppose Vladimir Putin wind up dead all over the world, poisoned, shot in the back of the head?

Coons noted in his question that he previously met with a woman from Zimbabwe who received asylum in the USA because she was tortured “for who she was”.

The most heated exchanges of the hearing came during questioning by U.S. Sen.

“I don’t agree with everything he’s doing, but he understands I’m a businessman and our company has invested a lot of money in Russia”, Tillerson said in February.

Coons also asked Tillerson whether he believes the promotion of gay rights is “a piece of our human rights advocacy and agenda around the world”.

Tillerson faces a confirmation hearing on January 11 when the information about his past business decisions to circumvent USA law is likely to come up.

He also denounced Russian Federation for meddling in USA elections and distanced himself from Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims, and from a registry of American Muslims, and from Trump’s characterization of Mexicans as rapists and criminals.