tillerson. he did not our differences get in the way of what we could agree on. since then, he has demonstrated uncanny ability that will serve him in our country well as its chief diplomat. that is the ability to deftly handle business manners while handling- while relationships. once he is confirmed, he will be instrumental in shaping american foreign-policy as we face a broad array of diplomatic challenges that will define the success of our nation for generations. thank you members of the committee for letting me introduce rex tillerson. thank you for being the first prompt senator i have witnessed here. thank you so much. >> i'm trying to set the standard. >> members of the committee, good morning. it is a privilege to join you this morning and have the opportunity to help introduce a fellow texan and secretary of state nominee, rex tillerson. as many of you know, rex tillerson was born in wichita falls and what they proud texas longhorn. ben and i think that might plenty to qualify him for

tillerson. it was interesting to listen to king abdullah of jordan talk about his country's commitment to refugees. they have taken in refugees from many parts of that region, from iraq, from yemen, from other countries, and they've taken in over 600,000 refugees from syria. i think king abdullah used the number -- if you want use it a comparable number of refugees coming into america, it would be equivalent to about 60 million refugees coming into our country. let me remind you that in syria, president obama committed to 10,000. it's literally a drop in the bucket compared to what jordan has done in accepting refugees. it just underscores even more how wrong president trump's executive order was over the weekend that put a hold on our refugees program -- refugee program and restricted travel to the united states. the vetting that goes forward in jordan in regards to refugees, it's under the auspices of the united nations, and those that are seeking refugee status, a very small percentage -- i u

tillerson. and i am hopeful also that a number of his other stances, such as enforcing sanctions that hold our adversaries accountable, notably russia and iran, will change as well. these stances have been troubling. i have little confidence that mr. tillerson will vigorously enforce these sanctions and even less confidence that he will guide president trump to provide the crucial advice our demonstrably rash and ill-advised president needs. i want to point particularly to some of the tactics that exxonmobil used in its litigation against legal challenges that were brought based on climate change information that allegedly was concealed by exxonmobil. these tactics are deeply troubling. and i would hope that maybe the toughness of exxonmobil in those tactics would be replicated in the toughness that is brought to bear in enforcement of sanctions against iran and russia. because he has shown a troublesome trend of opposing sanctions that have held iran accountable, sanctions that pushed iran to t

tillerson. i will be concise but i do want to say a few hings. after considering his nomination for secretary of state i will be casting my vote against him today. for the 11 years i have served on the senate for relation committee, i have taken the advice and onsent of nominees seriously and while considering hundreds of nominations for both democratic and republican administrations, even where i disagreed with the nominee views, especially when they were just as housing the views of a nomination -- administration, i have often considered them if other qualifications were mad. i respect mr. tillerson's experience and willingness to serve but after our private meeting and lengthy confirmation process i am deeply troubled by a number of mr. tillerson's responses. i am not convinced mr. tillerson shares the worldview that the united states foreign policy must be rooted and what strengthens us. democracy, upholding the rule of law, human rights. as i said during his hearing, business dealmaking is

tillerson and the you not -- nomination of mr. tillerson. he is certainly sincere in wanting to serve this country, that i very much admire. he is certainly a talented individual with negotiating skills that are important or a person who would become secretary of state. i acknowledge that. he also indicated during the hearing -- a couple points i thought were useful. the united states should be at the table during the climate debates, that it would be important to comply with our --rent laws as it relates to current law. but what gives me greatest concern and the reason i do not support his nomination for the secretary of state -- it gives me the greatest cause -- pause is that i do not believe his business background in his responses to the questions we asked erratically about his support percent since or how he would evaluate sanctions moving forward or how he would deal with contingencies on development assistance as it relates to human rights and good governance. so many times he qualified that, he sounded like a business person rather t

tillerson and the nomination of mr. tillerson. mr. tillerson is certainly sincere in wanting to serve his country. he's a talented individual who has negotiating skills that are important for a person who would become secretary of state. and i acknowledge that. he also indicated during the hearing a couple of points i thought was useful, that the united states should be at the table during the climate debates, that it would be important to comply with our current laws, but what gives me the greatest concern, the reason that i cannot support him, his nomination for secretary of state, it givwhat gives me the greatest pause is that i don't believe his business background and his responses to the questions that we asked him directly about his support for sanctions or how he would evaluate sanctions moving forward or how he would deal with contingencies on development assistance as it relates to human rights and good governance so many times he qualified that that he sounded like a business person rather than a person who wants to be secr

tillerson as c.e.o. and chairman of exxonmobil conducted business with all three foreign state sponsors of terrorism through a foreign subsidiary in a way that allowed exxon to evade u.s. sanctions. as the head of exxon, mr. tillerson did business with the terrorism trifecta: iran, syria, the sudan. this raises serious questions that the man who is nominated to be the face of the united states to the world has so much experience doing business with our most prominent and concerning adversaries. at the hearing under questions from the senior senator from new jersey and the senator from oregon, mr. tillerson denied having knowledge of these dealings and directed senators to seek more information from exxonmobil itself. three times he told the committee that -- quote -- he did not recall any of the details. throughout the afternoon it sounded like he was following the dodge ball rules for confirmation hearings. dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge. in fact, he basically admitted it to the junior senator from v

tillerson but mr. trump and his affiliation with the olgarts with putin regarding their own personal investments, and as my understanding, i watched clyde bernstein on pbs speaking about donald trump jr. back in 2008 trying to get wealthy people here to invest in russia. and of course that's what they do. but because, i guess -- i don't know if you can answer this for me, sir, but i heard mr. tillerson has been excused and does not have to show his tax returns along with, of course, donald trump, neither one of them. so i have a concern that both of them are entangled with utin and on the ol garths in -- the oligarts in russia and find it scary. guest: a lot of the democrats on the committee in the formation committee that will be having the hearings this wednesday did ask for him to submit his tax returns. that's actually not required, "not part of the normal practice. but a lot of the senators felt given his background in political affairs or diplomacy or even in public life he should take that extra

amy: tillerson was with exxonmobil for 41 years. during wednesday's hearing, tillerson refused to label saudi arabia a human rights violator, and avoided condemning philippines president rodrigo duterte over thousands of extrajudicial killings carried out under duterte's war on drugs. tillerson said he would advise president trump to veto any attempt to end the u.s. embargo on cuba, and said the u.s. should challenge china over its territorial claims in the south china sea. tillerson also denied knowledge of exxonmobil's efforts to prevent u.s. sanctions against russia, testifying that he never personally lobbied against sanctions. that prompted senate foreign relations committee chair bob corker to respond, "i think you called me at the time." during the hearing, tillerson was repeatedly interrupted by protesters from greenpeace opposed to naming an oil company executive as secretary of state. outside the hearings, about 200 people rallied holding signs reading "exxon knew." we'll have more on rex tillerson's nomination and exxonmo

tillerson. president-elect donald trump has not him to be secretary of state. this hearing is about an hour and 45 -- has nominated him to be secretary of state. this hearing is about an hour -- 45 minutes.to today, my is here sister as well. a lifelong educator. a math teacher and coach teaching for many years in the texas public school systems. brother-in-law who is now -- or has just begun his fifth term on the bench for the district court's of abilene, texas. i appreciate the support they had given me in my past endeavors, but also they would come up from texas to be with me today. >> good morning. i am honored to have the backing of senator cruz from my home state of texas. i want to thank senator nine to his commitment to the ending of nuclear proliferation. german corker, ranking member card and, members of the committee -- chairman corker, ranking members of the committee, it is an honor to be in front of you for this hearing for my confrontation -- confirmation as secretary of state. ev

tillerson and the nomination of mr. tillerson. mr. tillerson is certainly sincere in wanting to serve his country. that i very much admire. he is talented and has negotiation skills. that is important for the person who would become secretary of state, and i acknowledge that. he also indicated during the hearing a couple points i thought was useful. that the united states should be at the table in the climate debate. that it would be important to comply with our current laws. but what gives me the greatest concern and the reason i cannot support his nomination for secretary of state -- a gives me the greatest pause is that i do not believe his business background and his responses to the questions we asked him, directly, about his support for sanctions or how he would evaluating shams, moving forward, or how he would deal onh contingencies the moment assistance, as a relates to human rights and good governance, so many times he qualified that that he sounded like a business person rather than a person who wanted to be secretary of sta

amy: tillerson was with exxonmobil for 41 years. during wednesday's hearing, tillerson refused to label saudi arabia a human rights violator, and avoided condemning philippines president rodrigo duterte over thousands of extrajudicial killings carried out under duterte's war on drugs. tillerson said he would advise president trump to veto any attempt to end the u.s. embargo on cuba, and said the u.s. should challenge china over its territorial claims in the south china sea. tillerson also denied knowledge of exxonmobil's efforts to prevent u.s. sanctions against rurussia, testifying that he ner personally lobbied against sanctions. that prompted senate foreign relations committee chair bob corker to respond, "i think you called me at the time." during the hearing, tillerson was repeatedly interrupted by protesters from greenpeace opposed to naming an oil compapy executive as secretary of state. outside the hearings, about 200 people rallied holding signs reading "exxon knew." we'll have more on rex tillerson's nomination and exxonmo

ambassador to qatar who met rex tillerson while in qatar before tillerson became ceo of exxonmobil. ambassador chase huntermeir. whether it is climate change or the comments about china overstepping its boundaries when it started building islands in the south china sea, is he giving you the sense he is the right person for you tough diplomacy but also more diplomacy that works with humanitarian issues, not just issues of business and certainly sabre-rattling? >> you know, i wasn't a donald trump supporter but i have to say his selection of rex tillerson was truly inspired. i think rex tillerson is the kind of quality individual in any professional walk of life, including the practice of foreign affairs and diplomacy who we really need in a job like that. so, i'm encouraged. liz: well he was pushed very hard in the beginning, and this is now six hours ago, about his relationship with vladmir putin and, look there are all kinds of pictures of him being awarded medals of friendship from vladmir putin. he worked extensively with him, and yet, let me play a little bit of when senator mar

tillerson. perhaps they could save tillerson's nomination. we don't know that yet. i did ask cory booker specifically, the new jersey democratic senator, are you open to supporting rex tillerson. and he said that he is open to it. he did not rule outvoting for rex tillerson. so, we'll see when push comes to shove how the democrats and the republicans on the committee eventually vote. but if the democrats decide to vote in unison and rubio votes no, that is big, big trouble for rex tillerson. and on the floor of the senate, wolf, there are also concerns from, say, lindsey graham, the south carolina republican voicing concerns about tillerson's views on russia. and if rubio votes no, i'm sure that could persuade lindsey graham, potentially, to vote no on the floor of the senate as well as potentially his friend john mccain, another sharp critic of russia. those are three republicans, all three of those republicans if they vote no, that means tillerson is not going to be the next secretary of state. you raise a key point, what do democrats do, they have not made a deci

tillerson. came out of the hearing saying he is uncertain to have his support for the nomination of rex tillerson. back and forth, including this exchange on russian hacking. sen. rubio: >> welcome, mr. tillerson. do you believe during the 2016 directed active measures involving the hacking of emails and strategic leaks of these emails, the use of email goal ofm a and with the denigrating a presidential candidate and undermining faith in our election process? , i have had no unclassified briefings. however, i did read the agency report released on january 6. that report clearly is troubling and indicates all the actions you described that were undertaken. based on your knowledge of russian leaders and russian politics, do you believe these activities could have happened without the knowledge and consent of the vladimir putin? >> i am not in a position to make that determination. that is indicated in the report. but i know there is additional classified information i do not have access to. >> you

tillerson: yes. sen. rubio: if congress imposed visa bans and sanctions on persons who undermined the server security and public and private infrastructure of thecratic institutions in united states, would you advise the president to sign it? mr. tillerson: i would certainly want to examine all four corners of that. sen. rubio: those are the four corners. we would sanction people involved in separate attacks against the united states and interfering in our elections. mr. tillerson: the cyber attacks throughout -- those are coming from many corners of the world. certainly, this most recent manifestation -- and i think the new threat posed, in terms of how russia has used this as a tool -- that introduces even another element of threat. but several attacks are occurring from many nations. sen. rubio: no matter where they come from. if they come from belgium, if they come from france, if someone is conducting cyber attacks against the united states, and we pass a law that authorizes sanctions and impose

tillerson writing that. and a rough exchange with senator rubio and clarified by a comment with corker and talking about vladimar putin. >> heather: he was asked about p whether or not vladimar putin is considered a war criminal. >> is vladimar putin a war criminal will. >> i would not use the term. >> let me describe the reason of aleppo. >> i am sure there is a body of record and in order to deal with a serious question like this. i would want to be fully informed before advising the president. >> there is so much information out there and it would not be hard to say vladimar putin committed war crimes in aleppo. >> it was a tough exchange and you can't just put that in context. and it was clarified by chairman corker. if you verify and independent knowledge that these actions occurred and was informed he just received his classified clearance last night and if he independently verifies this it would fit the label of war crime. that is the response mr. tillerson. >> if that is our standard that we verify o

tillerson. i want to underscore a point, we talk about the offices, coming up several times, that is you keep referring to the fact of your concern in regards to the ukrainian sanctions that were posed against russia. for their actions in ukraine. that you were concerned that american companies could be at a disadvantage because of europe being treated differently. grandfather's clause, et cetera. then we talk about leadership and it was very true on iran and senator menendez took the leadership on this, that but for the u.s. leadership, we wouldn't have gotten other countries to act. so if we take the position we are going to the lowest common denominator, we're not going to get anything really done. you talk about being tough and tough positions and leadership and requires us to be willing to go the extra amount. and one last point on this and i agree with senator corker, we've never had any administration believe that congress just take away their discretion. fact.s absolutely a they just ass

tillerson and mr. tillerson's views, but i think we will have some specific questions because of statements made by mr. trump. but we do want to hear your views particularly as it relates to many of the challenges that chairman corker went through in his opening statement, and senator it's a pleasure to have you in our committee, and secretary gates, thank you for all of your service and you honor our committee, both of you, by being here today. i also want to once again welcome our new colleagues, senator booker, and senator portman and senator young, i worked with all four of you before in different capacities and i know your commitment to our national security and foreign policy and i know you will all be great additions to our committee. i want to acknowledge senator king, and is that the first time senator king has been in our committee room, and we need to get you on a committee. as i told you in our private meeting, mr. tillerson, thank you, thank you for being willing to serve the public. it's

tillerson. i thank you for your fairness including the ability to schedule today's business session. a couple preliminaries. severeto note there are weather conditions throughout the country preventing some of our members from being here. for example, senator murphy had planned to be here. his flight was canceled. he is on a train heading toward washington as we speak and he will not get her for a couple more hours. out.ted to point that because of the weather conditions some are not able to be here. we're trying to work out plans. so that some can change their proxy vote to their vote in person later on as long as they get here by this evening. a couple points, one is there was an honest disagreement between the german and the ranking member as to whether a nominee for secretary state and u.n. ambassador should be required to make available to taxcommittee three-year returns. they agreed, the question is whether we should ask to see them. i accept it is a different view between the chairman and

tillerson's testimony brings up. he has gone a step farther than the president-elect has by talking about wanting the united states to prevent china from accessing the artificial islands they built in the past several years. how he would do that is a question left unanswered. many wonder if the united states navy would go so far as to blockade the islands to prevent the chinese from getting to the isla islands. it leaves many wondering could we face an early crisis in a rocky start to the relationship with china and the united states under the incoming is administration. >> that relationship is beginning immediately after the election. matt rivers, thank you. >>> it is that time of hour when we get a check of cnn money stream. investors with questions is putting the trump rally at risk. stocks in asia closing lower. forget trump rally. drug stocks, a trump slump. stocks tanked around 11:20. that is when trump said the industry has been disastrous. he vowed to cut drug prices and stop drug companies from moving overse

tillerson and the nomination of mr. tillerson. he is certainly sincere in wanting to serve his country and i very much admire that. he's a talented individual who has negotiating skills. they are important for person who would become secretary of state. i acknowledge that. he also indicated during the hearing, a couple points i thought was useful that the united states should be at the table during the climate debate. what gives me the greatest concern, the reason that i cannot support him, his nomination for secretary of state, it gives me the greatest pause is that i don't believe his business background and responses to the questions that we asked him directly about his support for sanctions or how he would evaluate sanctions moving forward or how he would deal with contingencies on development assistance, as it relates to human rights and good governance and so many times he qualified that that he sounded like a business person rather than a person who wanted to be secretary of state. i did not see that commitment to be the ad

tillerson and the nomination of mr. tillerson. mr. tillerson is certainly sincere and wants to serve this country. that i very much admire. he is certainly a very talented individual who has negotiating skills that are important for a person who would become secretary of state. and i acknowledged that. he also indicated during the hearing a couple point i thought was useful, that the tiny chip at the table during the claimant debates, that it would be important to comply with our current laws as it relates to -- but what gives me the greatest concern, the reason that i cannot support him, his nomination for secretary of state, what gives me the greatest pause is that i don't believe his business background and his responses to the questions that we asked him directly about his support for sanctions or how he would evaluate sanctions moving forward, or how he would deal with contingencies on development assistance as it relates to human rights and good governance, so many times he qualified that, that he sounded like a business person

tillerson. he's expected to face questions about the story of the day, and that is russia. already rex tillerson the former ceo of exxonmobil now the nominee for secretary of state, was facing some skepticism from republican lawmakers about his role at exxonmobil, his relations with vladimir putin and the nation of russia in the wake of last night's reporting on intel allegations surrounding russia and donald trump. you can expect all of that to be front and center today. we are told that tillerson in his prepared statement will mention russia, specifically he will say that russia must be held to account for its actions. that could go a long way to appease some of the members of the senate committee here who are going to be listening in on them. we know that rex tillerson has been making the rounds up here on capitol hill meeting with a lot of the senators who will be grilling him today trying to assuage some of their concerns. we'll see if those missions to capitol hill last week were a success

tillerson did, are at odds with the president's policy. so mr. president, democrats and republicans alike, and the american people most of all deserve to know whether mr. tillerson would implement this executive order or not because it seems to directly contradict comments he made under oath to a senate committee. key allies in the world are wondering whether the potential secretary supports this policy and so are the american people. here are some important questions. did he have any involvement or consultation in the construction and drafting of the executive order? asking president trump to rethink this policy? does he think it would make us less safe? does he think it would alienate muslim communities around the world? green agree that current card holders should be subject to another round of scrutiny if they come back to the u.s. even though they have been that it before? did -- have been that vetted before? i am making to unanimous consent requests. first, i asked to proceed to the immediate consideration of senator feinstein's bill introd

tillerson: yes, i do. >> would you threaten to break the commitment to article five as a means to pressure allies more -- to spend more? mr. tillerson: i would not recommend that. >> i think all of us would like to see our partner step up and do more in terms of the budget. ukraine has struggled to maintain its territorial integrity against russian aggression. one point that has not been discussed in the way out to be in 1994, theback united states, britain, russia and ukraine signed the budapest memorandum that said when ukraine gained its independence following the collapse having possessed the world's third largest nuclear arsenal in exchange for giving up the nuclear arsenal, we would assure ukraine's sovereignty. i think that's important. we talked about sam nunn and his work on nuclear nonproliferation. that agreement has been violated by russia. question is whether we are going to agree to that as well. in her written statement, you talk about the taking of crimea. do you regard the russian annexati

rex tillerson slid into the line

tillerson being caringful. he wouldn't come in to office or post assuming he gets confirmed trying to dismantle the agreement. he would talk it over with with his boss. what do you think of the administration not quick to shelve the agreement. >> i also agree with that. if're it is unfortunate we have the agreement. we have to hold the iranians accountable to the agreement. they are likely already cheating and we have to get in to this with the intelligence service and friend's intelligence and certainly hold them accountable. and if they are indeed dhaeting, we hammer them with tough sanctionses that brought them to the table in the first place. i believe that the iranians want to dominant the middle east. and when we push back to that, i believe the iranians will pull out of that nuclear deal themselves. i don't believe the administration will permit iians to run roughshod over the middle east. i don't believe tillerson and trump will permit that to happen. and when they push back, the iranians will fold that

tillerson, thank you for your willingness to do this. you're going to be hitting the ground at a very difficult time as far as u.s. relationships around the world. they've spiralled out of control from time to time. and we are not in a good place in many parts of the world, primarily because of u.s. policy. and it's going to be rethought. it's going to be redeveloped. and i thank you for willing to take -- for willingness to take that on. i was struck when you were named, that this is something that's been a bit off of the radar screen of most americans, and that is, the importance of the work that the state department does in dealing with our companies and with commerce in foreign countries. most americans don't realize how difficult it is to do business overseas. and the -- and the state department really needs to focus -- >> we have been listening to rex tillerson's confirmation hearing before the senate foreign relations committee. i'm kate snow joining you now at 3:00 eastern time/noon out west. we will continue to listen in on that

tillerson. it is a discussion we're having and not at all delayed any of our operations and i fully expect that i will continue to use whatever means i can to change our committee practices so that we do have our nominees, as many other committees in the senate require to file tax returns, that's not unique. small business by senator shaheen requires -- the second point, very quickly, is that the second point, the ability of members to ask questions for the record, when they ask questions of the nominee is pretty well been respected and i would hope that that right would not be diminished, that we have the ability to ask questions of the witnesses in regards to areas that we think are important. no one in any way is trying to diminish that. i know you and i have agre on a series of questions that will come from the committee itself and mr. tillerson, as i understand it, is going answer those. i would think that absolutely the arrangement that he has with exxon is something that should be fully v

tillerson and mr. tillerson's views. but i think we'll have some specific questions because of statements made by mr. trump. but we do want to hear your views particularly as it relates to many of the challenges that chairman corker went through in his opening statement. senator nunn it is a pleasure to have you on the committee and thank you for your years of public service. secretary gates, you honor our committee, both of you, by being here today. i also want to once again welcome our new colleagues, senator booker, senator berkeley, senator portman and senator young. i've worked with you all in different capacity and i know your commitment to national security and foreign policies and great additions to our committee. i want to acknowledge senator king. is that the first time he has been in the room to observe a hearing? we have to get you on the committee. thank you for your interest in this hearing. and mr. tillerson, as i told you in our private meeting, thank you. thank you for being willing to serve th it is not

tillerson who is exxon president is a puting p lant. exxon mobil has $500 billion invested in russia. because of the sanctions on the dig oil, they cannot wealth -- oil wells so the money is just sitting there and vladimir putin gave that name to the president-elect to make him the secretary of state to get the sanctions removed so they can all make money. everybody knows that the president-elect would do anything for a buck. host: other headlines today on the front page of the "wall street journal" -- trump says the bar for china and russia, he says donald trump wants to emphasize flexibility in dealing with america's two largest strategic rivals. basing your relationships on the degree to which china and russia corporate with the u.s. economic , diplomatic, and military priorities. keepd trump said he would sanctions against russia imposed by the obama administration at least for some time. commit to would not america's long-standing agreement with china over taiwan until he sees what he considers progress from beijing and its currenc

from the russian president, but today tillerson said the two nations will probably never be friends. >> our value systems are starkly different. >> reporter: tillerson also encountered some rough sailing when republican chairman bob corker asked about lobbying against sanctions on russia after it invaded crimea. >> i never lobbied against the sanctions. to my knowledge exxonmobil never lobbied against the sanctions. >> reporter: but corker reminded him of this. >> i think you called me during this time. >> reporter: and democrat bob menendez said he had hard evidence tillerson was mistaken. >> i have four different lobbying reports totaling millions of dollars as reqd by the lobbying disclosure act that lists exxonmobil's lobbying activities on four specific pieces of legislation authorizing sanctions. >> reporter: senator menendez also asked tillerson if he and president-elect trump have even talked about russia yet. scott, tillerson said no, to which menendez responded, "that's pretty amazing." >> chip reid for us tonight. chip, thank you. >>> today is the confirmation of senator j

tillerson and mr. tillerson's views, but i think we're going to have some specific questions because of statements made by mr. trump. but we do want to hear your views, particularly as it relates to many of the challenges that chairman corker went through in his opening statement. to senator nunn, a pleasure to have you on our committee and we thank you very much for your years of public service. secretary gates, thank you for all of our service. you hon our our committee, both of you, by be here today. i also want to once again welcome our new cleggs, senator booker, senator burkely, senator young. i've worked with all four of you before and i know your commitment to our national security and to foreign policy, and i know you all will be great additions to our committee. i want to acknowledge senator king. it we've got to get you on a committee. we thank you for your interest in this hearing. mr. tillerson, as i told you in our private meeting, thank you. thank you for being willing to serve the publi

. >> reporter: the toughest grilling of rex tillerson today came from a republican, senator marco rubio of florida. >> is vladimir putin a war criminal? >> i would not use that term. >> reporter: rubio, a leading critic of russia, graphically described russian bombing in syria. >> mr. putin has directed his military to conduct a devastating campaign that's targeted schools and markets and other civilian infrastructure that has resulted in the death of thousands of civilians. you are still not prepared to say that vladimir putin and his military have violated the rules of war and conducted war crimes in aleppo? >> those are very, very serious charges to make, and i would want to have much more information before reaching a conclusion. >> i find it discouraging your inability to cite that, which i think is globally accepted. >> reporter: rubio has not yet decided whether to support tillerson. if he votes no, that could put the oil executive's confirmation at risk in the narrowly divided senate. rubio has previously criticized tillerson, who has known putin for years, for accepting an orde

from the russian president, but today tillerson said the two nations will probably never be friends. >> our value systems are starkly different. >> reporter: tillerson also encountered some rough sailing when republican chairman bob corker asked about lobbying against sanctions on russia after it invaded crimea. >> i never lobbied against the sanctions. to my knowledge exxonmobil never lobbied against the sanctions. >> reporter: but corker reminded him of this. >> i think you called me during this time. >> reporter: and democrat bob menendez said he had hard evidence tillerson was mistaken. >> i have four different lobbying reports totaling millions of dollars as required by the lobbying disclosure act that lists exxonmobil's lobbying activities on four specific pieces of legislation authorizing sanctions. >> reporter: senator menendez also asked tillerson if he and president-elect trump have even talked about russia yet. scott, tillerson said no, to which menendez responded, "that's pretty amazing." >> chip reid for us tonight. chip, thank you. >>> today is the confirmation of senat

. >>> president-elect trump nominated secretary of state, rex tillerson, russia opposes a danger, the united states must be clear-eyed with the relationship of russia. joining us from washington is a member of the committee that'll be questioning secretary of state nominee, rex tillerson. this committee will have a huge role in shaping the portions of the trump administration. senator murphy, i have to begin these explosive allegations in this story tonight. were you reading them as we all have and were you briefed as a member of the committee? >> no, we have not been briefed on these allegations. the director of the fbi and james clapper will be before the senate and all senators briefing later this week and so i expect that either we'll be briefed or ask questions about the allegations at that time. i hope and i pray that these allegations are not true. many of us have been scratching our heads over a year now trying to understand why donald trump has become a very purposeful ally of a vicious time in vladimir putin and why he seems to defend his actions every turn. i hope it is not

obviously tillerson wasn't going to do that. david: yeah, and to liz's point, i mean, you don't do that before you start negotiating with somebody. i want to -- you don't want to tilt your hand towards the way they're going to respond. the panel is sticking around with us. we've got a busy hour, meliss m. melissa: all right. another big event today. president-elect donald trump holding his first press conference in six months during which he slammed reports that russia compiled compromising information on trp d not so subtly pointed fingers who may have been respoible for them. >> i want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows. but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record. melissa: connell mcshane is standing by at trump tower with what important details came from that press conference. that was a wild one. if that's what we're in for for the next four years, i'm going to have

against tillerson. that's a big if, at least right now. manu raju, up on capitol hill, thank you very much. republican senator, james resh. thanks very much for joining us. are you stunned that one of your fellow republicans, senator rubio, is not yet ready to commit to confirming rex tillerson as the next secretary of state? >> i am not stunned at all, wolf. marco is a very thoughtful person, has legitimate concerns. he is going to attempt to saturdays. >> phi himsesatisfy himself and go from there. >> i thought he had a great hearing. he looked like a secretary of state. he sounded like a secretary of state. he handled himself, i thought, very, very well. >> tillerson seems much more inclined based on his answers at the hearing to intervene in world affairs, for example, than trump. can he truly speak for the president to u.s. allies, adversaries? he also said in response to one question from senator menendez, he really hasn't had a serious conversation with trump when it comes to russia? >> i think h

tillerson opposed u.s. sanctions against russia, after russia's illegal annexation of crimea in 2014. because his multinational corporation stood to lose very lucrative oil contracts if those sanctions were put in place. international sanctions against russia imposed by the united states and european union sent a message to russia that their invasion of the ukraine is unacceptable. these sanctions are absolutely critical to multilateral efforts to hold russia to its commitment to end the violence in the ukraine and restore its sovereignty consistent with the minks agreements. the russians claims these are separatists, ukrainians who are rising up, but the truth is this is russian spy, russian directed and at the behest of putin. mr. tillerson's wavering on russian shainchtion could -- sanctions could encourage putin to cut a deal for relief, cause baltics to question efforts in the united states and nato to security and this all collectively would make us less safe. on climate change mr. tillerson's career

tillerson was not clear. let me just give you one example that i think may sum up my concern on his moral clarity issues, and that's with russia. we had asked several times whether he would support the existing sanctions, whether he would support stronger sanctions. after all, the sanctions were put on because russia invaded ukraine. they're still there. they're still in crimea, they are still interfering with eastern ukraine. and unless they comply with the minsk agreement, our european allies are looking for america to say no way would we ever weaken our sanctions as long as russia's violating its commitment in ukraine. but since then, they've done other things. i already mentioned the war crimes that they're committing in syria, but they also attacked america. they attacked us through cyber, trying to bring down our democratic system of government, free elections. i would certainly have hoped that mr. tillerson would have shown some compassion for increasing sanctions against russia, but instead, we asked

tillerson gave to your fellow lawmakers? >> i think mr. tillerson did a really good job. this is not an easy task for him. he wasn't thinking about becoming secretary of state two months ago. democrats were talking about how remarkable it was he didn't have a note. he didn't even take notes during the hearing. this is all off the top of his head. he had an awful lot of things to say. he proved himself to be highly intelligent. very knowledgeable about a host of issues. also pretty deft at handling show boating on parts of other members, pressing on questions i want a secretary of state to answer. >> let me play you one short moment this was his answer to whether or not he had ever lobbied congress or white house for sanctions to be lifted on russia and he gave an answer that today fact checkers say was false. listen to this. >> i have never lobbied against sanctions. >> company you direct dead. >> to my knowledge, exxon never directly lobbied against sanctions. >> okay. so senator, according to congressional records, public records, exxon repeatedly talked to lawmakers an

. >>> president-elect trump nominated secretary of state, rex tillerson, russia opposes a danger in t danger, the united states must be clear-eyed with the relationship of russia. joining us from washington is a member of the committee that'll be questioning secretary of state nominee, rex tillerson. this committee will have a huge role in shaping the portions of the trump administration. senator murphy, i have to begin these explosive allegations in this story tonight. were you reading them as we all have and were you briefed as a member of the committee? >> no, we have not been briefed on these allegations. the director of the fbi and james clapper will be before the senate and all senators briefing later this week and so i expect that either we'll be briefed or ask questions about the allegations at that time. i hope and i pray that these allegations are not true. many of us have been scratching our heads over a year now trying to understand why donald trump has become a very purposeful ally of a vicious time in vladimir putin and why he tesee to defend his actions every turn. i ho

look at those that have supported tillerson. we've had stephen hadley, robert gates, condoleezza rice and heavyweights with foreign policy with the faith and confidence they need to support tillerson and his experience in not just the private sector but his experience in building national and global relationships which are critical to this role. russia is the key factor and the key issue but you have to look at the full context of this experience that it's a reason why so many in the gop and as we saw in manu's piece, cory booker of all people saying in addition to the hearings said i expect you to be the secretary of state and he looks forward to working with him. so you need to take a look at that. >> to that point, patty, do you think if rubio wants a political future in the national stage, he's risking that and goes against a lot of these established heavyweights? if he doesn't vote for him? >> i think that marco rubio did not fare very well during the election and trying to gain back some of, you know, his political mojo in

tillerson. i don't think it's going to upset him. he's been the ceo of a huge oil company for years. >> i agree with rick grinell that he will be confirmed, but i must suggest that some hostile questioning will come from republicans, from republicans who are fearful about a sort of amicable rather than adversarial relationship that mr. tillerson may suggest between the united states and russia and between himself and vladimir putin. stuart: that will come up. >> i think it will. stuart: and it will be aggravated by this. >> john mccain is not on the committee, but it's the john mccain, lindsey graham, marco rubio attitude about this personified by republican conservatives who are having to ask him some pointed questions. >> by the way, just to be clear, russia has the sixth largest oil reserves in the world. for exxonmobil or any other worldclass oil comny not to be dealing in russia is not even conceivable. so, here is a man who has built an extraordinary career and he was doing his job basical

tillerson says he hasn't had a discussion about russia with donald trump, how can that be? >> i think in the context of these confirmation hearings, the president elect has made a point to talk to each of the various candidates for these positions and the nation of those conversations is usually wide-ranging and so i -- >> dickerson: but how, why didn't he get russia in there, if got is driving the bus, shouldn't secretary of state know where the bus is going? >> i think rex tillerson will and has no confusion about who will be making the decisions in the trump administration, and that is true of all of us. i mean, what is so encouraging to be around a donald trump and literally be sitting side by side with him during the course of this transition, he has done hundreds of interviews and made decisions, attracted men and women of extraordinary caliber to this cabinet, i think we may well have the entire cabinet named before the inauguration, is to see a leader who is decisive, he has in, asks incisive questions and gets straight to the point and knows what he is looking for

i think tillerson will show a harder face. tillerson has been leading world class company and has learned i that process how to deal with tough people all over the world, like many members of trump's cabinet. he is a tough guy. you could say the same thing about jim mattis. i think we will see that face as he is quizzed. he is also a smart guy and knows how to run technology and engineering firms. exxon has been involved in iraq and qatar and russia and places with lots of political problems and lots of illegal issues. i think the questioning on those issues will be sharp and we will have to listen to what tillerson says. >> the core of the concern we have heard from graham, mccain and rubio is about russia. rex tillerson and exxonmobil had personal relationships in rusch a -- russia and received an award from vladimir putin. senators will be listening for any margin of error where he says -- shows some affinity for vladimir putin. >> no. he has just got to lay it all out there between his business dealings and russia and he n

tillerson said he wasn't opposed to it. he was a little bit more open to climate changes than trump has been. you know, tillerson actually really came out strong on russia in his opening statement and tried to divide a line from the tillerson that was out there with close ties with vladimir putin. take a listen. >> i think the important conversation that we have to have with them is does russia want to now and forever be an adversary of the united states. do you want this to get worse or does russia desire a different relationship? we're not likely to ever be friends. i think our value systems have starkly different. >> reporter: but tillerson ran into a bit of trouble with senator rubio whether or not vladimir putin was responsible for war crimes given the campaign in syria. so let's listen to what rubio had to say about the hearing. >> are you prepared to be the one republican to vote no? >> i'm prepared to do what's right. i'm not analyzing it from the partisan stand point. the president deserves latitude on the nominati

tillerson: i do not oppose tpp. i share some of his concerns as to whether the agreement that best.gotiated was for the exxon did a fair number of ,ransactions with iran bypassing sanctions. are you aware of this subsidiary to bypass sanctions and what did the right thing to do? mr. tillerson: i don't recall it specifically. merkley: the sec contacted exxon when you are in the leadership and said that this seems fairly material for investors is asked why ask gone -- asked why exxon didn't disclose it. do you have any recollection of whether exxon should have disclosed these transactions? mr. tillerson: i think it should be placed to exxon mobil where the information resides. sen. merkley: you were there. i am asking if you have a memory of it? if you were secretary of state and you were working to enforce sanctions and another ceo had a subsidiary set up to bypass u.s. sanctions, would you call that ceo away in and say this is not a good idea and say that undermines efforts to take on a serious terrorist threat or o