Oilman likely to be named as Trump's secretary of state

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name the chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp as the country’s secretary of state, an appointment that would put in place an official with close to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Tillerson met with Trump for more than two hours at Trump Tower on Saturday morning. It was their second meeting about the position this week. Transition team sources told several news agencies that the businessman was Trump’s top choice. No formal offer has yet to be made, reports said.

Jason Miller, the transition team spokesman, did not confirm or deny the reported selection of Tillerson, using Twitter to say: “No announcements on Secretary of State until next week the earliest.”

News of Tillerson’s possible appointment comes less than a day after reports that US intelligence analysts had concluded that Russia tried to intervene n the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton, according to officials quoted anonymously in the Washington Post and New York Times.

Republicans disputed those findings. Earlier on Friday, Barack Obama ordered the agencies to review all evidence about Russian interference in the election, including hacks on political organizations including the Democratic National Committee.

Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, and said he would like to restore US-Russia relations and work with Russian counterparts against international terrorism. The choice of Tillerson, 64, further stocks Trump’s Cabinet and inner circle with people who favour a soft line toward Moscow.

Tillerson has driven Exxon's expansion in Russia for decades and opposed U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia for its seizure of Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson Russia's Order of Friendship, one of the country's highest civilian honours.

The selection of Tillerson, 64, would end a long series of interviews that included former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, retired general and former CIA director David Petraeus and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Each of those candidates faded in turn: Romney over his past opposition to Trump, Petraeus regarding his guilty plea to leaking confidential information and Giuliani for his consulting work for clients abroad.

NBC News, which first reported the development, said Trump would also name John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as deputy secretary of state.

Trump has pledged to work for stronger U.S. ties with Russia, which have been strained by Putin's incursion into Crimea and his support for Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.

Should Tillerson be nominated, climate change could be another controversial issue for him. The company is under investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office for allegedly misleading investors, regulators and the public on what it knew about global warming.

Tillerson is, however, one of the few people selected for roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change. After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement and said it favours a carbon tax as an emissions-cutting strategy.