tillerson s criticism may make discussions a little awkward. as ceo of exxon, tillerson made deals with russian oil companies and the russian government itself. and it endeared him to president putin who awarded him with russia s award of friendship. for more on this, i m joined by rebecca grant and also mark ginsburg. mark, we ll start with you on this. rex tillerson the right person to be there and what can he get out of russia? well, the fact is that he s on his way and he s trying to get the g-7 countries aligned with a better approach collectively to try to deal with russia on syria. but what is lost in the equation here, is that while mr. tillerson is on his way to russia, the fact is that russia is really interested in assad to three reasons. their military bases on the mediterranean, the fact that
moscow. reporter: these are rare comments of rex tillerson. he has been seen a friend of the kremlin. he was award the medal of friendship by vladimir putin when he was the ceo of exxon. he said he is attending the nato meeting in brussels today. one thing he wants to talk about is the posture of nato in europe. particularly to russia s aggression in ukraine and elsewhere. there is reaction to the foreign ministry by secretary of state rex tillerson. we don t want to see sorry. we want to see u.s. foreign policy. not just quotes. that s the spokesperson for the russian foreign ministry. they want to see action, not words from the u.s. secretary of state. matthew, thank you very much for all of that breaking news. they are some of trump s supporters. up next.
a political crisis in south korea threatens to upend the strategy. the secretary works with u.s. allies, some are questioning the messages he was sending as ceo of exxon. that story developed today. rich edson has the report from tokyo. as secretary of state rex tillerson departs for japan, south korea and china, north korean state television is welcoming him. translator: if south korea and the united states invade north korea s sovereignty and dignity, our arm army. to counter north korean aggression, uss hosting military exercises with south korea. positioning military drones in south korea and is also deploying a missile defense system. north korea s programs and coordinating the response of them a priority.
negative attention that s going towards the president. though the white house has said and will say that steve bannon has cut all ties with breitbart and that s where things stand now. they will most certainly say that. great to see you, dillon. coming up for us, the wiretap walkback. no, not a new dance move. it s what the white house seems to be doing right now. you could also call it the air quote defense as they work to defend president trump s accusation that president obama wiretapped him. details on that ahead. plus, secretary of state rex tillerson used an alias to e-mail while he was the ceo of exxon. what it has to do with climate change and now new york s attorney general. that s coming up. dearthere s no other way to say this. it s over. i ve found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced.
a political crisis in south korea threatens to upend the strategy. the secretary works with u.s. allies, some are questioning the messages he was sending as ceo of exxon. that story developed today. rich edson has the report from tokyo. as secretary of state rex tillerson departs for japan, south korea and china, north korean state television is welcoming him. translator: if south korea and the united states invade north korea s sovereignty and dignity, our arm army. to counter north korean aggression, uss hosting military exercises with south korea. positioning military drones in south korea and is also deploying a missile defense system. north korea s programs and coordinating the response of them a priority.