tillerson acting for exxon. it's not even mr. tillerson. the question here is whether donald trump, a novice in the area of foreign affairs, is going to, by himself, throw aside a decade of american foreign policy to oppose, principal principally, the decision by russia to invade another country. this is about russia's decision to invade its neighbor, ukraine. and all the problems since have -- >> a sovereign country. but another clarity about the war in iraq. there was some time many years ago, jamie, one might have been excused for believing that iraq had weapons of mass destruction and perhaps they were behind al qaeda and all of these things. there is really very little reason in 2016 to have that belief and yet we expect that the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., john bolton being nominated as deputy secretary of state, what he told the washington examiner last year. i think the decision to overthrow saddam was correct but i think the decisions after that were wrong. i think wost was the decision to withdraw u.s. and coalition forces

concerns" about mr tillerson's nomination. live, theo keith, fox6 news. steph thanks theo when president-elect trump takes to the stage -- you can watch a livestream on fox6 now dot com, the fox6 news app and even the fox6 news facebook page. afterwards, we'll post the entire visit online as well. trump's pick for secretary of state... another nomination for his cabinet was also announced today. adding another previous political rival -- in former texas governor rick perry. he's been chosen to lead the energy department -- which would make him the head of an agency he once sought to eliminate. under president obama -- the energy department has focused on promoting clean energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuel. but the department has also seen domestic production of oil before heading to wisconsin today -- the president-elect held several meetings with high-profile -- and unexpected -- people. this morning -- it was rapper kanye west arriving at trump tower. the two met briefly -- but didn't comment on their discussion. later -- it was former n-f-l s

tillerson, right. >> absolutely. >> so check it out. even if mr. tillerson is not under serious consideration for the position of secretary of state, might donald trump be mr. trump, president-elect donald trump be sort of giving him -- doing him a favor, a branding favor? that's who he is the king of. suddenly we are all talking about tillerson, rec tillerson. could this be part of a show? >> it's sort of been a show the last few weeks because of the nature of where president-elect trump has been doing his cabinet making decisions. the fact that people walk through that lobby, the press are there and able to watch that. sure, on some level it is a branding exercise for the people walking through. but it's also the reality of how this president-elect has conducted his search for cabinet members. it's been in a way quite transparent. the press has been able to watch who is coming in and out of that building and who is going up and down that elevator. so, yeah, i mean, it's put attention on those people. but it's also really kept the public in that w

mr. trump praising mr. tillerson's years of experience on the global stage as a negotiator for the oil giant, but tillerson's deep ties to russian president vladimir putin are raising serious concerns for a possible confirmation process in the senate. still, the president-elect keeping his cards close to the vest on just who will become america's top diplomat. >> have you settled on a secretary of state? >> i'm getting very close. i'm getting very, very close. >> do you know who it's going to be? >> i just have -- i have someone in mind that i think will be really fabulous. i think we're going to have one of the great cabinets ever put together. >> all right. let's go to brian now outside live there in front of trump tower and here in new york city with the latest. so everyone is asking, brian, why is rex tillerson now the leading candidate to be secretary of state? >> reporter: good afternoon, arthel. if you listen to the president-elect and his aides, it's clear mr. trump is impressed with the exxonmobil

certainly mr. tillerson's nomination certainly is very unusual pick. certainly someone with a business background brings with him lots of skills, managerial skills necessary for this job. melissa: a lot is being made of his relationship with vladmir putin. obviously russia has a ton of natural resources, that was a place that exxonmobil certainly wanted to do business. he would need to go in to go head-to-head with him and not get steamrolled. does that mean he is friends with him in your mind? is his relationship, does that complicate the relationship or does it in some ways make it easier? what's your take? >> that is really the key question here. and as you say, mr. tillerson does have extensive experience with dealing with vladmir putin and russian regime as well. and, he would have to adapt i think his experience on that front into a new arena as secretary of state. and secretary of state, his role is to advance the u.s. national interests on the international stage. it is very different i think, when you're heading a major international company l

but i don't think we know at all at this point how mr. tillerson is going to approach this. sara is right it would be helpful if donald trump said something acknowledging in some even gentle way that he believes the russians were involved. >> we got a lot more to hear from mr. tillerson. >> one of the early tests how good the republican president who was not the choice of many establishment republicans, how good or bad in the middle his relationship will be. another choice that has unnerved a lot of the washington establishment and a lot of people in the middle east is david friedman the president's choice to be ambassador to israel. he's a bankruptcy lawyer. known trump for years. he's a critic of the two state solution saying he doesn't see it as viable. he wants to move the embassy asap from tel aviv to jerusalem which is against years of u.s. policy which says the fate of jerusalem will be decided in negotiations between the parties. he has expanded, excuse me supported expanded settlements in the west bank. what is donald trump trying to say here >> he's sending someone

>> well, first of all, i've not met mr. tillerson. i'm looking forward to meeting him. i will certainly give him the benefit of the doubt. somebody with his experience, background, i think would be an asset to secretary of state. not only does he know world leaders, not only has he traveled extensively around the world, he also fully understands the economies within the countries and that's really good experience base. you know, i certainly trust that he is a patriot. that he will put america's interest first and what donald trump has campaigned on. sew will be a loyal american and certainly i think he could be a very highly qualified secretary of state but i will reserve my judgment and i look forward to meeting him and look forward to the confirmation hearings. >> as you said, as you well know, takes one republican to switch sides and the domination dies in committee prediction. do you think he makes it out of foreign relations? what about your committee? >> i can't predict that. this is very early in the process. let mr. tillerson, give him the chance to meet with se

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. >> let's bring in jonathan alter, "daily beast" columnist and msnbc analyst and author of "center holds," and the vice president communications of the policy center and msnbc contributor. big welcome to you. robert, do you agree with senator mccain, and if so how concerned are you? >> i do, and i'm very concerned. i mean, look, there's two sides of this coin. the first side of the coin is it's very, very troubling that someone would be so close to president putin for all the obvious reasons. senator mccain probably summed it up very artfully with respect to vladimir putin's personality, with respect to his history, both politically but also personally in terms of putting people in jail, in terms ave allegedly killing people. i mean, you go on down the list. now the flip side to this, i'm trying to put a -- a bright side to this is that perhaps maybe this is what we need in the secreta

tillerson was in that quote. particularly, this terrible agreement we signed with iran, that we have tried to implement some sanctions and withdraw the money that earlier was taken from russia for this. it is just a mess. i think it shows basically weakness on the american side for letting things get out of hand that way. however, showing anything other than a policy difference between mr. tillerson and his critics, i don't see that there is anything more there. it is a policy disagreement of the utility of sanctions. sometime they do work, sometimes they don't. >> do you think he will be picked? >> i don't know. i am an adviser on the system but not privilegety to these considerations. i have no idea. >> we will see what happens, probably this back we are hearing but we will see who gets the nod. ambassador james woolsey, former director of the c.i.a. always good to see you. >> ambassador woolsey, did russia really hack the united states elections? d lawmaker want an investigation as they propose a commission. a

we think mr. tillerson is -- first of all, the president-elect wouldn't have picked him if he wasn't that excited by him. the president-elect brought a number of folks in front of him and mr. tillerson jumped off from the very first meeting. he was someone who was very impressive in person. his bio speaks for itself, all the work he's done around the world. when we talk about getting back to making good deals, not just bilateral deals, that the country will be entering into or renegotiating, tillerson is someone who has done that on the international stage. >> president-elect was supposed to hold a press conference, i believe, thursday, right, of this week about his family business, about how things would work in a trump administration in terms of the corporation side of donald trump. you've postponed that, right? he said last night in a tweet they're going to postpone the press conference. why? >> it takes a while to get everything in order as we make that transition from mr. trump being one of t

what about mr. romney and mr. giuliani? minute, he nominates mr. tillerson. [inaudible] funny to me that he is his pick. host: if you were sitting on the committee, the foreign relations committee and you had the chance to ask rex tillerson, what would you want to know from him in particular about his relationship, business relationship with vladimir putin? about: if he concerned mr. tillerson or the united states -- is he concerned about mr. tillerson or the united states? would he sell us out to the russians? host: he talked about mitt romney, a potential pick for the secretary of state. the president-elect was charmed by his texas swagger and his restraint during the public audition. that was published in politico this evening. david petraeus pleaded his case on national television. bob corker, among a host of others, traipsed through the tower -- the lobby of trump tower. rex tillerson entered the trump tower backdoor twice. clearwater, florida, we hear from keith on the independent line. your thoughts on the cabinet picks? caller: to follow up on the til

tillerson, the question is the entire slate of nominees from the president-elect. >> this was mr. tillerson you were referring, to i think. >> yes. >> but is he part of a slate. i don't october to having a business voice in the cabinet that makes a lotted of sense. but when you look at the fact that it's mr. perry who railroaded through fast tracked 13 permits to build coal fired power plants in texas. when you look at the fact that scott pruitt head of e.p.a. has also sided with the oil and gas industry and tried to rip down every air pollution safeguard. >> okay. >> that's the issue. it's a question of balance. this cabinet is way out of balance on these issues. >> okay. but with respect, this is what guests always do when they don't want to answer a direct question. they deflect it to something much large are. not about this it's a larger question. i'm asking you to respond to a quote from you about rex tillerson saying this is a sign that trump is putting the interests of the oil and gas business ahead of america. i'm saying it's a pretty heavy charge. do you have any evidence

tillerson has a very close relationship with mr. putin, does billions of dollars in deals with russia. but there are traditional republicans like john mccain and marco rubio anl lindsey graham who even skeptical or hostile to mr. putin and russia. so i'm not sure mr. tillerson is going to get there. he's certainly the pick that's most at risk and he hasn't even been formally picked yet. >> president-elect trump did discuss tillerson, the idea of him amongst others on fox. i want to play a little bit of the way he was discussing tillerson. >> well, in his case he's much more than a business executive. i mean, he's a world-class player. he's in charge of i guess the largest company in the world. he's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of his next nearest competitor. it's been a company that's been unbelievably managed. >> it's not double the size of the next largest competitor, which is shell, but that's not the issue here. this is where president-elect trump is saying, he's a businessman, knows how to hand

fullscreen --reaction to rex tillerson for secretary of state-- "mr. tillerson is a very impressive individual and has an extraordinary working knowledge of the world. " -- sen. bob corker / r-tn but, tillerson's close ties to russia's president,vladimir putin, still has many on capitol hill concerned ... including democratic senat the senate foreign relations committee ... fullscreen --reaction to rex tillerson for secretary of state-- "i am deeply troubled by mr. tillerson's vocal opposition to u.s. sanctions on russia following its illegal invasion, occupation and annexation of crimea, ukraine, and his close personal relationship with vladimir putin." -- sen. ben cardin / d-md fox news also learning mr. trump is expected to name another texan to his cabinet, former governor rick perry as his choice for secretary of energy. leader, led one of biggest economies in world." more announcements - and visitors are expected - with both bill gates and kanye west visiting trump tower today. nat pop trump says: "we've been friends for a long time." waldman on-

this man mr. tillerson has been active atte exxon about 40 year. he gets high marks from employees and those he dealts with. and people are trying to go put donald trump in the conventional box, and they're immediately disappointed. you see with so many of his picks already and so many ways that he ran his own campaign that this is a man who is not going to be able to stick him into conventional poxboxes. and i think the idea that he's entertaining rex tillerson among the field, fourth highest ranking official in our nation's government, really is part of the trump effect. >> let me ask you this because i found it incredibly strategically savvy. i agree in terms of the 50 countries that they are doing bush business in. but the push back is that he has too good of a relationship with vladimir putin. do you find that the deals that he's done with russia could end up being a negative here or would that actually be helpful? >> teahese are skills, not liabilities. when you think about how you negotiates with foreign leaders to get them to work with his

sanctions that tillerson opposed as exxon ceo. >> it does throw up some red flags, and certainly mr. tillerson should divest himself of his holdings at exxon so that there is no conflict of interest at all. >> reporter: tillerson's nomination follows -- >> wouldn't it be nice if we actually did get along with russia? >> -- trump's repeated praise for the russian president on the campaign trail. >> throughout his campaign the president-elect indicated his intent, if elected president, to pursue warmer relations with russia. so what better way to do that than to choose somebody who has been awarded the order of friendship by vladimir putin to be your secretary of state. >> the nomination comes at a precarious time in u.s.-russian relations. u.s. agencies confident that russia hacked democratic party organizations and individuals before the u.s. election. with the approval of the senior-most russian leaders, and the intelligence community has growing confidence, officials tell cnn, that russia's intention was to help trump. gop senator john mccain, who has called for a full senate inves

>> mr. tillerson brings a lot of skills to the job in terms of being an executive, understanding the rule of law and investing in people. i think the question will be not whether as secretary of state he's capable of faithfully executing the laws and policies of the united states, i think the question of the hearings will be what are those policies. the questions will be what do you believe about the role of nato? do you believe in the independence of the balkans and the new independent states. do you believe hacking is a problem the united states ought to investigate and respond to it and do you believe the united states ought to use sanctions when necessary to implement our policies. so mr. trump hasn't been so clear on what those policies are and the nature of the confirmation hearings is that mr. tillerson will be asked his views on russia's not only dealing -- his policies not only on russia but really his policies on every major conflict point in the world. so that's where i think the

tillerson should be fully vetted and find out the apps to all the questions the senators have and mr. tillerson should be forthcoming and the american people should be satisfied he'll be out representing foreign policy of united states. i think the fact that the guy has experience negotiating huge deals with vladimir putin should be a net place. you don't know where it is net minus on his part. >> we've heard donald trump say he expressed admiration for vladimir putin and we should not be admiring head of russia. >> to thano donald trump say in various point don't it be good to have russian our on our side with russia fighting isis in that regard. that's so the of what where it came from both sixtdz simone, michael i put that out to either one of you. >> let me do it first since brought it up it was barack obama that brought russia into the equation vladimir into the equation which investigating the iran nuclear deal. he didn't want to do this on his own. he wanted his friend vladimir putin on which he said we have disagreements but we can find ground on this issue and work together.

and mr. tillerson is going to have to address them. >> does he support the positions of mr. trump on the campaign trail? or does he say, "i know how to be tough with mr. putin. i was tough on mr. putin when it came to sock lynn deals and other deals in russia." it puts him, and i think mr. trump in a very interesting position. they will have to define what this policy will be towards russia. >> and josh barro, as 1967, when "new industrial state" was published, it was all about how the corporate man, as rex tillerson would be the interessential example, is really a representative of the corporation. even back then he could see that they had surrendered any real interest in the citizenship of their country, because they needed to operate the way exxon does all over the world. so here's tillerson now, in a, shifting into representing a country, which is a very, very different thing, with completely different objectives from that company. >> yeah, although that part of this, i think, is not unprecedented. you've had lots of business executives go into the cabinet. paul o'neill

today trump chose exxon mobile ceo rex tillerson to be his secretary of state. mr. tillerson is a business heavyweight, with a top job at exxon mobile he brokered deals around the world on behalf of the oil giant but critics say he lacks political experience. >>> "eyewitness news" reporter joe holden is live in the sat center with reaction from law make hours will vote whether to confirm this unconventional choice. >> reporter: in explaining this move donald trump tweeted i have chosen one of the truly great business leaders of the world. now the confirmation process for rex tillerson is expected to be rocky, because of his close ties with vladamire putin and fresh allegations of russian interference in the election. >> well look, i have serious concerns about mr. tillerson's nomination. >> reporter: new jersey democratic senator robert menendez adding his voice to a growing choir of lawmakers. >> there is no doubt that russians and others have hacked. >> reporter: this is after president-elect donald trump announced his choice for secretary of state exxon mobile ce

this is donald trump explaining why he did in fact choose mr. tillerson. we're going to pull that up in a second. matt, the question is going to be whether or not the senate -- the senators that are looking to confirm or not confirm mr. tillerson are going to delve deeply into his russian ties and business interests. we do have that sound bite. here's donald trump talking about tillerson. >> he's much more than a business executive. i mean, he's a world class player. he's in charge of i guess the largest company in the world. he's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much doubled the size of their next biggest competitor. it's been a company that's been unbelievably managed, and to me a great vac is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. he does massive deals in russia. he does massive deals for the company, not for himself but for the company. >> he says he's done massive deals for himself, massive deals for the company. i think he meant country, but let's listen to tillerson himself back in february during a speaker series when he didn

rex tillerson is one of those. there was a joint venture that he negotiated personally with mr. putin, and putin's very close personal friend igo igor sechin and at its height they thought it would be upwards of $300 billion in terms of a joint venture. i sat with putin personally one day when he explained to president obama that this was one of the best events in u.s./russian relations in decades. so if you want to have a better relationship with putin personally, mr. tillerson is somebody that could help do that. >> but ambassador, john mccain as we just heard had some tough words for tillerson at the army/navy game he's concerned with his ties to russia and mccain's long time aid mark salter tweeted this. "tillerson's ties to russia should lead to a rough confirmation and a no vote." do you share that same sentiment? >> yes, of course i do. i'm worried, bus with no disrespect to mr. tillerson, i think's that he been a successful ceo for exxon mobil. i knew his team well but their focus is energy. they have a singular focus and foreign policy especially when you're secretary o

he's gone with mr. tillerson who's getting recommendations and kudos from condy rice and jim baker and others. hardly a bunch of right wing nuts. it's just that he's not been in the public eye, that's really all that's going on here. he's not been a member of the -- or a visible member, if you will, of the political class. >> so you think that donald trump was at one time very serious about mitt romney because sometimes i wonder if he really was very serious about mitt romney or he's just doing it as an olive branch. >> no. >> my understanding close to trump is it was all for show. let's be clear, he made -- jeffrey's right, he's meeting with people but he's not actually putting them into positions of power. the people he's putting into positions of power are billionaires and executives and far right ideye ideologues. his promise was he was going to drain the swamp. he is gilding the swamp. it's upsetting. listen, he has exxon executive with close ties to russia, with business interests, billions of dol

i want to know what mr. tillerson thinks about a broad set of issues, not just energy ones but initially this is disturbing to me. >> mike mcfaul, former ambassador to russia under president obama and now from stanford university, thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >>> joining me now is the outgoing chairman of the republican national committee and the incoming chief of staff for the president-elect, donald trump, it's reince priebus. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me start with apparently a big announcement that may be coming this week, and that has to do with secretary of state and outgoing exxon ceo rex tillerson. the early reaction, not very good, mr. priebus. alarming and absurd, says the top democrat on senate foreign relations. john mccain, a matter of concern to me, referring to mr. tillerson's close relationship with vladimir putin. lindsey graham called the pick unnerving. is he definitely going to be the pick number one? how do you respond to the criticis

fueled in part by bipartisan concerns over mr. tillerson's ties to vladimir putin, the russian leader denounced as an aggressor by house speaker paul ryan, a thug by mitt romney, and a butcher by senator john mccain. joining me now exclusively to discuss the tillerson pick and a lot more, the priorities for congressional democrats during donald trump's first term, house democratic leader, nancy pelosi. madame leader, thank you very much. >> a pleasure to be here. >> well, your initial response, rex tillerson, what we know about him is that he's spent his entire career at exxonmobil. he is the american most closely connected to russia. they had a giant oil deal in alaska, $500 billion, that was canceled because of the ukraine sanctions. which he had opposed. >> well,xval first of all, let' what is the job? the job -- the secretary of state is really in line to succession to the president of the united states. >> the only cabinet official who is in line to succeed -- >> well, by sequence, they are, but that's the primary one and has

i want to know what mr. tillerson thinks about a broad set of issues, not just energy ones but initially this is >> mike mcfaul, former ambassador to russia under president obama and now from stanford university, thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >>> joining me now is the outgoing chairman of the republican national committee and the incoming chief of staff for the president-elect, donald trump, it's reince priebus. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me start with apparently a big announcement that may be coming this week, and that has to do with secretary of state and outgoing exxon ceo rex tillerson. the early reaction, not very good, mr. priebus. alarming and absurd, says the top democrat on senate foreign relations. john mccain, a matter of concern to me, referring to mr. tillerson's close relationship with vladimir putin. lindsey graham called the pick unnerving. is he definitely going to be the pick number one? how do you respond to the criticism? >> well, first

my guess is that mr. tillerson has relationships with most of the heads of state in those areas." areas."yesterday trump postponed a press conference scheduled for this week to dealings...but he did take to twitter overnight to write: two of my children, don and eric, plus executives, will manage them. no new deals will be done during my term(s) in office. but again, president elect trump will be here at the exposition center tonight. doors open at 4 and the event scheduled to begin at 7.live in west allis. kyle aevermann. cbs 58 news. 3 3 packers nation--- take note! you have a chance to win an ?ugly christmas sweater?--- worn "jordy nelson" or "randall cobb."(cobb's looks like it fits him better, esn't it?) 3 go to associated bank's ?facebook page? to enter.two wis will be selected on december 29-th. 3 local high schl students are army. the students-- brookfield central high school-- are part of the "red kettle club." 's the only club of its kind in wisconsin... and one of only ?five? in the country.these 30 students will ring bells all week before school. they're also taking on

again that does not mean we should prejudge mr. tillerson. martha: you know, when you look at cabinet picks so far, you look at general mattis, general kelly, and potentially rex tillerson, which would create and general michael flynn, would create sort of that circle of people who would have influence over our relationship with russia, and i know that it is very important to you that we negotiate with them from a position of strength, do you think that's a strong triumvirate? >> i think it's a strong team but the problem is that we have cut defense and cut defense, as importantly this president has no plans, has no strategy. as we, pretty soon silence will descend over aleppo. the only thing there will be around is dead bodies and carnage and destruction and all of that did not have to happen. it is one of the great tragedies of recent history is what is happening in syria with 500,000 killed, six million refugees. they have got, that team and that, has got a hell of a lot of work to do. martha: and it's worth pointing out something that you

i want to know what mr. tillerson thinks about a broad set of issues, not just energy ones but initially this is disturbing to me. >> mike mc president obama and now from stanford university, thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >>> joining me now is the outgoing chairman of the republican national committee and the incoming chief of staff for the president-elect, donald trump, it's reince priebus. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me start with apparently a big announcement that may be coming this week, and that has to do with secretary of state and outgoing exxon ceo rex tillerson. the early reaction, not very good, mr. priebus. alarming and absurd, says the top democrat on senate foreign relations. john mccain, a matter of concern to me, referring to mr. tillerson's close relationship with vladimir putin. lindsey graham called the pick unnerving. is he definitely going to be the pick number one? how do you respond to the criticism? >> well, first of all, there is no a

he likes mr. tillerson. he writes, in part, he is a person of great integrity whose only goal in office would be to protect and advance the interest of the united states. i met rex years earlier through a mutual involvement in and leadership of the boy scouts of america. i know this eagle scout will be be a global champion of the best values of our country. is that valuable to you, this statement from robert gates? >> that's what we're going to delve into during the confirmation process. it's one thing about being successful business leader. it's another thing about being the top diplomat for the united states globally. there's a lot of challenges. we need to know where his priorities are going to be. what he thinks of mr. putin. how he believes america needs to stand up or basic values for human rights for good governance, for anti-corruption, those are issues that in russia they don't exist. so will be interesting to see how he responds to those types of questions. >> you called for a nonpartisan commissio

i want to know what mr. tillerson thinks about a broad set of issues, not just energy ones but ia >> mike mcfaul, former ambassador to russia under bama and now from stanford university, thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >>> joining me now is the outgoing chairman of the republican national committee and the incoming chief of staff for the president-elect, donald trump, it's reince priebus. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me start with apparently a big announcement that may be coming this week, and that has to do with secretary of state and outgoing exxon ceo rex tillerson. the early reaction, not very good, mr. priebus. alarming and absurd, says the top democrat on senate foreign relations. john mccain, a matter of concern to me, referring to mr. tillerson's close relationship with vladimir putin. lindsey graham called the pick unnerving. is he definitely going to be the pick number one? how do you respond to the criticism? >> well, first of all, there is no announ

ben cardin: mr. tillerson has a record as ceo of exxon corporation. he has been engaged in a lot of international transactions on behalf of his company. tie to mr. putin and russia. what i need to know is how he perceives his responsibility as secretary of state. can he divorce himself from his commercial interests? can he divorce himself from personal relationships? what is his view as it relates to russia itself? russia is not our friend or partner. they have attacked us, tried to interfere with our election, they invaded the ukraine. they are incurring -- they are currently in malta over in georgia. they are responsible for the atrocities taking place in syria. we need to make sure the secretary of state will put the american security interest as the only concern, and not the commercial interest. i also have concern about his positions in regards to climate change in the environment. these are issues that need to be dealt with during the confirmation process. i'm looking forward to the hearings and discussions we will have in january about him. i t

i want to know what mr. tillerson thinks about a broad set of issues, not just energy ones but initially this is disturbing to me. >> mike mcfaul, former ambassador to russia under president obama and now from stanford university, thanks for coming on. >> thanks for having me. >>> joining me now is the outgoing chairman of the republican national committee and the incoming chief of staff for the president-elect, donald trump, it's reince priebus. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. >> let me start with apparently a big announcement that may be coming this week, and that has to do with secretary of state and outgoing exxon ceo rex ti tillerson and the early reaction is not very good, mr. priebus. alarming and absurd says bob menendez the top democrat on senate foreign relations. john mccain, a matter of concern to me, referring to mr. tillerson's close relationship with vladimir putin. lindsey graham called the pick unnerving. is he definitely going to be the pick number one? how do you res

so where is mr. tillerson on these issues? i have no idea. he has spent 40 years managing exxonmobile's place in the world, and it will be very important to hear him speak forthrightly, because he's now, after the president, going to be the most important voice on behalf of american values in the world. >> woodruff: john hambre, you describe as rex tillerson as a centrist. what do you know about him that would assuage some of these concerns, first about russia? >> well, i-- i agree with what both nick and steve have said that we face a very challenging time with russia. boy, that's why i'm so glad that rex is there because he knows them so well. i mean, knowing someone and agreeing with someone are two completely different things. rex does know russia very well. he knows president putin very well. he knows the dynamics within russia very well. of course, he's going to have to lay out his thinking during his nomination hearing. i'm not at all worried rex is going to stand up for america and american values. >> woodruff: nicholas burns i want t

and that's mr. tillerson's ties to russia and to putin. and we've seen the picture of putin gazing at him, adoringly and pinning a medal -- a russian medal on mr. tillerson's chest. so there's very serious conflicts there. and that runs through all the cabinet. i'm not saying they're insurmountable, but they must be addressed. >> just a question very quickly, we don't have much time, ambassad ambassador, on the stock question for rex tillerson. he's eligible for about $175 million in stock when he retires turning 65 march of next year, should they give it all to him immediately or let it vest over several years? it seems like there's not really an easy answer because if they let him just cash out, it looks like a gift. >> it is a devilishly tricky problem. the exxon board is going to meet, they're going to wrangle with it. i know that very smart lawyers in trump tower are helping mr. tillerson think it through. i hope that they'll also call on the good offices of the -- there's government specialist office of government ethics. but they ne

tillerson and vladimir putin needs to be examined."this comes just a few hours after the washington post reported the c-i-a believes russia interfered in the presidential electionhacking and leaking democratic party document not just to cause chaos, but rebecca sinderbrand / washington post) "so you're looking ahead to an early part of the trump presidency where russia is very much going to dominate the conversation and certainly you can expect to hear a lot of tough questions at this confirmation hearing." the trump team immediately slammed the c-i-a and said it's time to "move on". chris pollone, nbc news, new york. coming up: local families fly to the north pole ... without leaving milwaukee. and this is a live look outside at waukesha county on really coming down.. and drivers are taking it slow. much more to come from storm team four meteorologist scott [ bell dings ] santa? no, jingles. [ knuckles crack ] [ spits ] ooo. ouch. [ neck cracks ] [ darien ] switch and get half off any smartphone. a holiday treat for dozens of children

so, there's a combination of things there with mr. tillerson that i know that the president-elect likes a lot. but i didn't say he's the choice because we don't know that yet. >> do you agree with the cia and the fbi that rush meddled in the u.s. presidential race? >> well, listen, i've looked at all of this information and even before i came on this morning i was looking at our daily brief. and it's still a little bit inconclusive. so, i'm not here to say it happened or -- >> help me understand. how is it inconclusive when the cia and, as you know, 17 intelligence agencies say happened. >> okay. but there's been no source attributed to those people. number one. number two, the fbi is a little bit murky on it. so -- >> they're murky on why. i hear you. there's a difference in terms of motive. they're murky on why. but they also think it was meddling by russia. >> okay. alisyn, when it is finally conclusive, i am very confident that the president-elect is going to make a statement about it. but i think right now we're looking at it and

my guess is that mr. tillerson has relationships with most of the heads of state in those areas." areas."yesterday trump postponed a press conference address plans for his business dealings...but he did take to twitter overnight to write: two of my children, don and eric, plus executives, will manage them. no new deals will be done during my term(s) in office. but again, president elect trump will be here at the exposition center tonight. doors open at 4 and the event scheduled to begin at 7.live in west allis. kyle aeveann. cbs 58 news. 3 3 ((???1:45 seconds??)) ((???tease ahead??15???)) ahead??15???)) forecast...today...colder. partly sunny in the morning then clearing. highs around 12. west winds 5 to 15 mph. tonight...partly cloudy. lows around 2. west winds 5 to 15 mph. wednesday...partly sunny. patchy blowing snow. highs around 13. west winds 10 to 20 mph. wednesday night...bitterly cold. partly cloudy. lows around 2 below. west winds 10 to 20 mph. wind chill readings 12 below to 22 below zero. thursday...bitterly cold. winds 10 to 15 mph. wind chill readings 14 below to 24

mr. tillerson could have a tough road to senate confirmation. republicans have expressed concerns over tillerson and his ties to russian president vladimir putin. tillerson was given the order of friendship award by puttin in 2013 and he has brokered million dollar deals with russian companies. being a friend of vladimir is not an atry butte i'm hoping for from secretary of state and today john mccain expressed concern. >> it's a matter of concern that he had a close personal relationship with vladimir putin and obviously they've done enormous deals together that that would color his approach to vladimir putin and the russian threat, but that is a matter of concern. we will give him his chance. >> reporter: trump's team says we can expect an announcement as early as this week. >> i know president elect spoke for the first time about receiving his presidential daily briefings. what did you learn? >> reporter: well, president elect trump telling chris wallace for the first time he's admitted that he doesn't read the presidential daily briefings ev

that is exxon mobile ceo rex tillerson. tillerson we now know came to trump tower to meet with mr. trump for the second time this week today. we know he was going to come to trump tower sometime this weekend to meet with mr. trump. that did in fact happen today. transition team confirmed that. came through a back way. away from the cameras and not through the famous golden elevators. he is the exxon mobile chairman. met on tuesday initially. now he emerged from that meeting seen as the leading candidate for the secretary of state position. he's been the ceo of exxon since 2006. he has no diplomatics experience, but an upside could be that he does offer to bring some executive leadership experience to the diplomatic post. exxon operates in more than 50 countries including russia. reporteredly has a close relationship with vladimir putin. he has relationships with world leaders already given his position with exxon mobile and this could be, could be a red flag later on if he is chosen given it could be a conflict of interest. we kouk hearing more of that if he is in fact chosen to be