Ignoring Russia ties, Donald Trump picks ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state

United States President-elect Donald Trump on Monday night selected ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the nation's secretary of state in his administration, dismissing concerns about his close business relations with Russia, two officials close to Trump's transition team said.

Trump's selection of Tillerson to head the state department may cause a possible tussle in Congress over the latter's connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump is reportedly set to announce Tillerson's selection on Tuesday morning, two people close to his transition team said on condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reported.

Reports state that the President-elect moved to select Tillerson as the state department head as he liked the prospect of having an international businessman act as America's top diplomat. However, Trump's selection of a Putin aide has not gone down well with many of the Republican Party leaders. Soon after the revelation Senator Marco Rubio (Florida) wrote on Twitter: "Being a friend of Vladimir Putin is not an attribute I am hoping for in Secretary of State."

Republican senators John McCain (Arizona) and Lindsey O. Graham (South Carolina) also raised concerns over the selection. McCain told Fox News last week that Tillerson's relationship with Putin "is a matter of concern to me."

"You want to give the president of the United States the benefit of the doubt because the people have spoken. But Vladi­mir Putin is a thug, a bully and a murderer, and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying," McCains said.

"I don't know the man much at all, but let's put it this way: If you received an award from the Kremlin, [an] Order of Friendship, then we're gonna have some talkin'. We'll have some questions. I don't want to prejudge the guy, but that's a bit unnerving," Graham said.

Although Trump believes that Tillerson's close relations with Moscow are beneficial for the nation, the President-elect during an interview with Fox News Sunday had said that the businessman's deep relations with Russia are a selling point. Tillerson was awarded by the Russian president with a Order of Friendship in 2013, which is an honour for a foreign citizen in Russia. The businessman still maintains close ties with Putin.

"A great advantage 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," Trump said during the Fox interview.

Tillerson, a native of Texas, had joined ExxonMobil Corporation as a production engineer in 1975 and never left the organisation. He has dealt with Middle East and Russian leaders, among others from six continents and almost 70 countries due to his company's operations in the regions.