Rex Tillerson

Civilian Deaths In Trump’s First Operation

... The Associated Press. The excerpt of the call did not make clear who exactly Trump considered “bad hombres,” or the tone and context of the remark, made Friday. Still, the excerpt offers a rare and striking look at how the new president is conducting diplomacy behind closed doors. Trump’s remark suggests he is using the same tough and blunt talk with world leaders that he used rally crowds on the campaign trail. If we're going to invade Mexico, important to do it BEFORE we build the wall. #logistics. — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) February 2, 2017. The phone call between the leaders was intended to patch things up between the new president and his ally. The two have had a series of public spats over Trump’s determination to have Mexico pay for the planned border wall, something Mexico steadfastly refuses to agree to. A White ...

Senate Committee Approves Tillerson For Secretary Of State

... confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy.". The committee's Republican chairman, Sen. Robert Corker of Tennessee, said "diplomacy has been a critical component" of Tillerson's job at Exxon Mobil and praised him as an "adept negotiator" with relationships around the world. Read More. Democrat concerns. But the Democrats catalogued a series of concerns, including his stance on Russia, human rights, how long he would recuse himself from decisions that could affect Exxon Mobil, and the oil company's track record of doing business with despots. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said he was troubled by Tillerson's answers on human rights and on Exxon Mobil's efforts to avoid or lobby against sanctions on Iran and other countries. "If I am to vote affirmatively for a ...

Trump Cabinet’s Ties To Boy Scouts Include Rex Tillerson, Who Once Reportedly Lobbied Group To Accept Gay Youths

... for the Boy Scouts’ board to allow openly gay boys. Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson in January 2017. (Photo: Steve Helber/AP). “I can’t get into the intimacy of these conversations. But he agonized over this. He prayed on it, and ultimately he came to the conclusion the only thing that can guide him here is what’s best for the young boys,” Hamre said. Still, Wahls warned against overemphasizing Tillerson’s role in ending the ban: “He did lobby in favor of changing the policy, but the leadership that was involved with that process was really much more Bob Gates, Wayne Perry, Bob Mazzucco and a few other folks.”. Former Defense Secretary Bob Gates was among those who recommended Tillerson to Trump. Gates had actually met Tillerson while serving as president of the Boy Scouts of America. They were both involved in discussions about the organization’s changing membership policies, Wahls said. “[Tillerson] was president of the Boy Scouts from 2010 to 2012. That’s the highest volunteer role in scouting,” Wilson ...

Rex Tillerson Sworn In As Secretary Of State

... , Updated at 09:29 PM, February 1, 2017. WASHINGTON — Rex Tillerson was sworn in as the President Donald Trump administration’s secretary of state Wednesday evening, February 1 st, after having been confirmed by the Senate earlier in the day. “It’s time to bring a clear-eyed focus to foreign affairs,” President Donald Trump said at a White House ceremony, adding, “All of us are better off when we act in concert and not conflict. There’s rarely been conflict in the world like we see today. Very sad.”. Vice President Mike Pence gave the oath of office to Tillerson. The former Exxon Mobil CEO — who was confirmed in the Senate by a vote of 56 to 43, with all Republicans in support and most Democrats voting against him — fills one more slot on President Trump’s national security team despite questions about his approach to Russia and state sponsors of terror, such as Iran. Three Democratic senators split with their party to back Tillerson: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Mark Warner of Virginia. They were joined by Independent Sen. ...

Trump Swears In Tillerson To Lead State Dept

... Franken as Republicans tried to move ahead and vote on the nominee. 10:50 a.m. The top Democrat on a Senate panel responsible for advancing President Donald Trump's pick to head the White House budget office says she needs time to examine the results of a routine FBI investigation before she can vote on Rep. Mick Mulvaney's nomination. Missouri Sen. Claire Mc Caskill says she gained access to Mulvaney's FBI file just a half-hour before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee vote Wednesday morning. Mulvaney is a Missouri Republican tapped to lead the Office of Management and Budget. The vote has been postponed by not rescheduled. Mulvaney faces a Budget panel vote on Thursday. Arizona GOP Sen. John Mc Cain is a critic of Mulvaney's prior House votes on Pentagon spending, but he said after the hearing that he would have voted to advance Mulvaney. 9:50 a.m. A Senate committee has approved President Donald Trump's picks for Health and Treasury secretaries after majority Republicans suspended the panel's rules. The rule they suspended requires at least one Democrat ...

Rex Tillerson Tried To Get This Rule Killed. Now Congress Is About To Do It For Him

... fair amount of bipartisan support. But so far, no Republicans have come out against the resolutions to strike it down, filed by Bill Huzienga of Michigan in the House and James Inhofe of Oklahoma in the Senate. If the GOP can cobble together a majority for the resolution in the Senate, Democrats can spend five hours of floor time delaying it, but they can’t stop it. And nobody seems to think that Trump, who had lunch with Tillerson today, would veto it, regardless of his fiery rhetoric about taking on special interests. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Most of Obama’s most important regulations, like his Clean Power Plan to rein in greenhouse-gas emissions or other Dodd-Frank financial rules designed to rein in Wall Street, were completed early enough to avoid Congressional Review Act challenges. Trump and the Republicans will have to take on protracted legislative and judicial fights to kill those rules. But there are plenty of less prominent late-term rules that Republicans can take on if they’re willing to devote the floor time, on issues ranging from paid sick days for federal contract workers to energy ...

Rex Tillerson Took A Different Tone On Climate Change When The Cameras Were Off

... Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, said that while his comments at the hearing and in writing were not “logically inconsistent” — one can believe carbon dioxide contributes to warming but isn’t the driving cause — the two testimonies have left different impressions. “Many people in the press, when they wrote about his statements at the hearing, interpreted it as, ‘Hey, this guy thinks climate change is happening,’” Leiserowitz told Buzz Feed News. “He’s got a view that seems to be quite different than his boss, and that became the storyline.”. Patrick Kovarik / AFP / Getty Images. ID: 10438105. During the hearing, Tillerson also echoed another Exxon position on the Paris Agreement, a global accord under which most of the world’s nations agreed to voluntarily curb greenhouse gas emissions through 2030 to help hold the global rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Late last year, Exxon backed the agreement. ...

Is The Fate Of Rex Tillerson In Doubt

... on the Foreign Relations Committee have sent him nearly 1,000 questions—many times more than the usual amount—that he must answer before a vote is taken on his nomination. The committee’s membership is almost evenly divided along party lines—11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. If every Democrat were to vote against Tillerson, it would take just one Republican to block the nomination. Three of the panel’s Democrats have publicly said they will vote no; staffers tell me that one more is on the verge of joining in and that the other six are leaning in that direction. As for the Republicans, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio harshly questioned Tillerson at the hearing about Russia and human rights in general; afterward, he told reporters that he was thinking seriously about doing “the right thing.” Rubio may also be seeking revenge against Trump, who belittled him during the presidential race and is believed to be contemplating a run in 2020 if Trump’s first term is wildly unpopular. ...

Senate Confirms Rex Tillerson As Secretary Of State In Narrow Vote

... Spokesman Sean Spicer called on the, quote, "career bureaucrats to get with the program or go." He explained it this way today. (SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE). SEAN SPICER: The point that I was making then is that if you believe so deeply that the policy is offensive to you, you have to understand that the job - the way our government works is we elect a president. That President gets to carry through their agenda that they set out with the American people during the campaign. KELEMEN: The State Department's manual says there can be no retribution for employees who use the dissent channel, and some in Congress concerned about Spicer's comments are now looking into ways to codify these protections. The White House is not making Tillerson's job easy, says Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING). DICK DURBIN: The executive orders issued by the president without consultation with the Department of State, judging NATO to be obsolete in his Twitter and ...

Gop Blocks Schumer Moves To Rescind Trump Travel Ban

... Committee to be secretary of state when it voted 11-10 along party lines to send his nomination to the full Senate. The former oil CEO's path to being confirmed as the chief US diplomat hasn't all been smooth sailing. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was a long hold-out and potential "no" vote after he raised concerns about Tillerson's views toward Russia and human rights. But the Florida Republican announced the day of the committee vote that he would support the nomination. If Rubio had voted no, it could have stalled Tillerson, although GOP leaders planned to move his nomination to the floor regardless. Democrats have catalogued a series of concerns about Tillerson, including his stance on Russia and relationship with President Vladimir Putin, human rights, how long he would recuse himself from decisions that could affect Exxon Mobil, and the oil company's track record of doing business ...

5 Reasons Rex Tillerson Shouldn't Be The Next Secretary Of State

... why. No Secretary of State should have a human rights blind spot. During his confirmation hearings, Tillerson seemed extremely uninformed or unwilling to discuss major human rights violations happening around the world. He dodged questions on Russia and the Philippines and had been at the helm of Exxon Mobil during a number of human rights scandals. The U. S. often claims a moral high-ground on the global stage when it comes to human rights, but with Tillerson in charge, any statements defending people's rights will ring hollow. As Secretary of State, he will be a key advisor to the President on issues such as sanctions for human rights violations by foreign governments and U. S. projects overseas. He is known to have close ties to Vladimir Putin and has cut numerous multi-billion dollar deals with the Russian government and other human ...