Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he will vote against secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson’s confirmation if the Exxon Mobil CEO fails to pass his litmus test on Russia.
Graham wants Tillerson to support sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Putin’s closest associates in response to Russian cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a top aide to Hillary Clinton. That would mitigate any worry Graham has about Tillerson’s acceptance of an Order of Friendship award from Putin.
But it might put the incoming secretary of state crosswise with President-elect Trump, who has disputed that Russia was involved in the hacks.
Graham emphasized Thursday on Fox News that he’s “not challenging the election results,” but said Trump and the next secretary of state can’t be “weak” with respect to Russia.
“Here’s what I’m looking for from the new secretary of state: Do you understand that Russia is a bad actor all over the world?” Graham said. “Are you willing to do something about it? You opposed sanctions in the past. If you oppose sanctions in the future, then you’re letting Russia get away with it, you’re inviting more aggression by Iran and China and North Korea, and I don’t think you have the judgment to be secretary of state.”
Graham’s opposition would be significant, but wouldn’t necessarily doom Tillerson’s nomination. It’s impossible to filibuster a cabinet nominee, due to a rule change enacted when Senate Democrats controlled the majority. It will take the support of just 50 senators to confirm him, because Vice President-elect Mike Pence can cast the deciding vote in the event of a tie. But Democrats have 48 seats in the Senate, so they need just three Republican defections to vote down Tillerson’s nomination.
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have both expressed reservations about Tillerson, though they’ve pledged to give him a fair hearing.
“If you don’t believe that the Russians were involved in interfering with our election then I am really troubled by that because I have been briefed,” Graham said. “I don’t think anybody who has heard these briefings doubt that the Russians were interfering in our election. Whatever their motives were, I don’t care; you can’t tolerate that. And if you let the Russians get away with it — I hope Trump takes on China, I hope he takes on Iran, they’re capable of doing the same thing.”
It’s not certain that Democrats would vote as a bloc against Tillerson, but they plan to put him through a bruising confirmation process, targeting his relationship with Putin and the deals he struck with authoritarian governments as the head of Exxon Mobil. “It is my hope that he is enough of a patriot to be able to separate his decades-long affiliation with this major oil company and the genuine interests of the American people,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who will participate in Tillerson’s confirmation hearings, told reporters Tuesday.
Graham acknowledged that Tillerson is “a good, decent man” and that his business experience could be valuable as secretary of state. “The people who are singing his praises are close friends of mine,” he said.
