Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland Democrat and ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced Monday he will not support the nomination of Rex Tillerson, who is President Trump’s pick to be the next secretary of state.
Mr. Cardin said that during his confirmation hearing, Mr. Tillerson “was unwilling to characterize Russia and Syria’s atrocities as war crimes, or Philippine President Duterte’s extrajudicial killings as gross human rights violations.”
“And he was not willing to dismiss with unqualified clarity a registry for any ethnic or religious group of Americans,” Mr. Cardin said.
Mr. Cardin also said he thinks Mr. Tillerson misled the committee on his knowledge of ExxonMobil’s lobbying on U.S. sanctions and said he’s concerned whether Mr. Tillerson would advise the president to keep current sanctions on Russia in place.
The foreign relations committee is expected to vote on Mr. Tillerson’s nomination Monday.
Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican and chairman of the committee, told CNN last week he plans to advance Mr. Tillerson’s nomination through his committee and that he expects him to be confirmed.
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• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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