ranking member menendez, thank you. thank you for the opportunity to appear here today as the nominee to be the united states secretary of state. i am grateful to each of you for the attention that you have given us over the past weeks. so many of you have given so much time and so many global matters before us. i m deeply appreciative of that. should i be confirmed this regular contact will continue. you can talk to senator burr, i worked at that diligently as a former member of congress, i understand the importance of that continued relationship and advice that comes from outside of the executive branch. i would like to take a moment to thank secretary tillerson for his service to the united states and his commitment to the smooth transition. and i would like to thank secretary sullivan as well for him serving in the gap. a personal thank you also to every living former secretary of state that each took my call, they found time to spend with the they talked to many of them actual t
to be the united states secretary of state. i am grateful to each of you for the attention you have given this over the past weeks. so many of you have given so much time on global matters before us. should i be confirmed this regular contact will continue. you can talk to senator burr. i worked at that diligently as a former member of congress i understand the importance of that continued relationship and advice that comes from outside of the executive branch. i would like to take a moment to thank secretary tillerson for his service to the united states and his commitment to the smooth transition and i would like to thank secretary sullivan for him serving in the gap. a thank you to every living former secretary of state. they each took my call and i spoke with many multiple times and were kind enough to visit me and share with me their thoughts with how if i am confirmed i