relationships across the party. he s different than a tom price who has been in congress and knows the players. tillerson s friendliness with vladimir putin, his wealth, these are all things that democrats see as ripe targets, and so what i m hearing from republicans in the senate is they re digging in to try to protect tillerson to make sure he knows what he s going to go through with this confirmation fight and jeff sessions, as much as he s part of the club up there, he does have some history on a variety of issues including racial allegations back in the 1980s when he was up for judicial position that are already coming back to light and back in the conversation. that s why you see the trump transition team really trying to put a pr operation around sessions to make sure other parts of his career come through. do you think it s strange, kasie, that bob corker and others have been so adamant that tillerson need not produce his tax returns? it seems like something as ben cardin sai
the energy department about who has been working on environmental affairs. the same goes for the state department. we will find out what the next president does and whether or not the safeguards that president obama put in place to make sure this is not reversed. thank you so much for joining me. we really appreciate your expertise. you bet. the president s new protections are amid concerns about rex tillerson for secretary of state. his company announced it would begin exploring for oil in the russian arctic. democrats are gearing up for a confirmation fight. i will dive into it with our panel coming up next.
harris: that s gorgeous. christmas spirit early. we say merry christmas on this couch? harris: you say whatever you like. we support you. we like it when a hashtag comes dressed. i have to bring my a-game with you ladies. harris: president-elect trump is for wisconsin after officially announcing his choice for america s top diplomat, exxon mobile rex tillerson. mr. trump tweeted earlier, the thing about best of tillerson is he has vast experience in dealing with foreign governors and i have chosen one of the great leaders of the world to be secretary of state. the oil company chief has close ties to russia and vladimir putin and his selection sets up confirmation fight against the senate. incoming white house chief of staff reince priebus fired back at any criticism, watch.
mitchell reports, the dealmaker. the president-elect topping the country s biggest oil maker to be the top diplomat. but it s rex tillerson s close ties to vladimir putin that could set up a bruising confirmation fight. i know russia very well. the workforce is suburb. they re well educated. they want to learn, they re motivated. plugged in, former texas governor rick perry now slotted for energy secretary. to run the agency he famously forgot he wanted to scrap. commerce, education and the, um, uh, what s the third one there? let s see. come on i can t, the third one, i can t. sorry. oops. truth and consequences. president obama weighing in on his successor s open contempt for the value of cia daily briefings. the truth of the matter is, it s a big, complicated world. it doesn t matter how smart you
50-vote threshold not 60. before i move on to rick perry, when she mentions the confirmation fight, what is the backdrop? what has senator corker announced? senator corker, the powerful chairman of the foreign relations committee just announced, he told manu raju, he is going to hold hearings looking into the russian hacking. so on the one hand he s going to do this, president-elect donald trump has not been so excited about this, and at the same time we have a nominee here who critics are very concerned about his relationship. just worth a note, we are short on time, we have to go, ladies, appreciate all of you, mary catherine, nia-malika henderson and jamie. thank you. just ahead, something i didn t think i d be talking about today, but guess who popped by trump tower? kanye west. yup, meeting with the next president of the united states then pausing for cameras, talking to reporters, hear why