Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” while discussing President-elect Donald Trump naming ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “With all due respect to the president’s nominee, perhaps he’s suitable for something else,” adding that secretary of state was “a revered position.”
Pelosi said, “First of all, let’s — what is the job? The job — the secretary of state is really in line to succession to the president of the United States … Well, by sequence, they are, but that’s the primary one and has special status. So the secretary of state is the person who should be recognized as a person who is a leader in terms of our security, our values, and our interests. In terms of the president-elect’s nomination, the coziness with Vladimir Putin is very alarming and should have eliminated him, frankly. Right now, his approach to the sanctions on Russia, because of their aggression in Europe, should be enough to say, perhaps another relationship with the administration, but not secretary of state.”
She added, “Let’s say that business people should not be excluded from consideration in the cabinet. But with no foreign policy experience, except, of course, it’s significant that he’s the head of a global company, but whose interests are served by that? I don’t think that Trump won because of his message of coziness with Vladimir Putin. I think he won because of the message of trade and immigration and subjects like that. But he won and he’s entitled to his appointments. But he is also responsible to do so in a way that is worthy of the positions that he is appointing people to. This is not a match. Even the Republicans in Congress recognize that. We’ll see how the confirmation goes. But our country — I mean, with all due respect to the president’s nominee, perhaps he’s suitable for something else. But secretary of state is a very revered position. Thomas Jefferson, I mean we can go down the list of people who have held that position in our country.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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