Rex Tillerson Confirmation Hearing: Secretary of State Nominee Hasn't Discussed Russia With Donald Trump

Rex Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil CEO and Donald Trump's pick to be the next secretary of state, faced an adversarial confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where members of both parties pressed him with tough questions on his ties to Russia, business conflicts of interests, and controversial Trump policies such as the Muslim immigration ban.

The hearing overlapped in part with Trump's first press conference as president-elect.

When he was asked about Trump's proposal for banning Muslim immigrants from entering the country, he responded by saying he doesn't favor "blanket-type rejection of any particular group." However, Tillerson argued that vetting immigrants can be very challenging.

'Like many of the issues brought up before him in the hearing, Tillerson noted that he would need a lot more information to make a decision on a potential "Muslim registry" Trump has proposed.

He also parted from Trump, who has suggested in the past that more countries should obtain nuclear weapons, on nuclear proliferation. Nuclear non-proliferation, Tillerson noted, is one of the most important principles going forward for foreign policy.

The senators decided against taking it easy on Tillerson early on in the morning. Sen. Bob Menedez, a New Jersey Democrat, asked how Tillerson could press private industries to conform their policies to align with national security in light of his history at ExxonMobil operating only to forward the interest of his shareholders. Tillerson avoided answering the question directly but said his new role would require a "shift."

Tillerson also claimed that ExxonMobil has not, to his knowledge, lobbied against sanctions. However, there is substantial documentation that the company did oppose sanctions on Russia following its aggressive moves into Ukraine.

Later, Tillerson agreed that ExxonMobil conducted lobbying on the Russian sanctions but argued that it only advised on, and did not oppose, the action.

Protesters also interjected themselves into the proceedings. A woman, holding a sign that read "Reject Rexx," had to be removed from the proceedings after interrupting the questioning.

"Please don’t put Exxon in charge of the state department," she said. Shortly after, another woman stood up to chant against Tillerson, citing the danger of oil pipelines and asking the senators to reject "oil."

Much of the questioning from the senators focused on Tillerson's attitude toward Russia.

"We're never likely to be friends," he said of Russia. "But there is scope to define a different relationship."

He emphasized that "engagement [with Russia] is necessary."

"At this point, they are in the 'unfriendly adversary' category," Tillerson said.

He also noted that he had not discussed Russia with Trump, to which Menedez responded, "That's pretty amazing."

Tillerson declined to take a strong position on the human rights violations committed by rulers around the world.

One striking moment came from Marco Rubio. "Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?" the Florida senator and former Republican presidential candidate asked.

"I would not use that term," Tillerson responded. Rubio proceeded to describe Putin's actions in Aleppo, noting that the Russians have targeted schools, markets and other civilian targets, killing thousands.

“Those are very, very serious charges to make, and I want to have much more information,” said Tillerson, adding that he would find out more when he had access to classified information.

“None of this is classified, Mr. Tillerson,” said Rubio. “People are dead.”

Tillerson later clarified that if Putin had engaged in these attacks, then he is a war criminal.

In a second round of questions from Rubio, he asked the nominee if China was one of the "world’s worst human rights violators.”

Again, Tillerson was noncommittal, saying, "They certainly have serious human rights violations.” Similarly, he declined to label Saudi Arabia a violator of human rights.

Tillerson also declined to call the extrajudicial killings of drug users under the rule of President Duterte in the Philippines. He said he wanted to withhold his judgment until he had more information, over and above what is currently available.

"You can blame it on me being an engineer," he said. "I'm sure there's a lot of credible information out there that I haven't seen."

Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, asked Tillerson about his view of climate change, which he has previously expressed a belief in. He did not recant his prior statements, even though Trump has voiced much more skepticism about the issue during the campaign.

But while he admitted greenhouse gases can have warming effects, he continued, "Our ability to predict that effect is very limited."

Asked about his previous support for a carbon tax, which ExxonMobil once supported as an alternative to what it felt would be a more disruptive cap-and-trade program, Tillerson noted that as secretary of state he would not have authority over tax policy.

Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginian Democrat, took a different tack with Tillerson, asking whether he was aware of any assets Trump holds in Russia or other foreign countries. When Tillerson said he had no knowledge of these finances, Kaine asked how he he could adequately execute his role as secretary of state, particularly if foreign governments might have more knowledge of Trump's ties and connections.

Tillerson insisted that he would not need to know about these ties to perform his job and that it is up to other parties to judge the president's conflicts of interest. He also denied any direct knowledge of foreign dictators who personally profit off their positions of power, though he said he has heard press reports to this effect.

Kaine also asked about whether or not Tillerson was under a confidentiality agreement with ExxonMobil; the former CEO said that he did not believe he was under such an agreement, but he would have to consult legal counsel.

Sen. Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, asked whether Tillerson would support a well-crafted program of sanctions on Russia that might hurt multi-nation companies like ExxonMobil, were the country to aggressively invade Ukraine further. Tillerson said he would support the sanctions if they were selected as the policy, though he did not indicate whether or not the conflicts with business interests would affect his evaluation of sanctions as a policy option.

Tillerson also laid down criticism of previous American foreign policy actions, including the invasion of Iraq and the overthrowing of Muammar Gaddafi. He expressed concern, however, about current relations with Iran and indicated the United States might have to take a harder line with the Iranian regime.

Watch a live stream of the proceedings below:

Image: Press Service of the President of Russia