. let's drill down on this "new york times" reporting a lot of details about exxon mobil, their dealings with the kurds, side stepping what washington wanted in iraq. also dealings with repressive governments in africa and going to moscow for an economic meeting last june when the other oil companies were boycotting it being criticized for the state department for that. >> reporter: the bottom line is you have a man who for most of his adult life, almost all of it, was focused on profiting on behalf of his own company. now the challenge is whether he can translate the deal-making experience to reliance building overseas. it poses concerns as you are indicating now directly dealing with the kurdish government back to try to prevent iraq from splintering by the iraqi government itself. in effect going after his own interests and not the state department's interest. that was his goal as a private business person. it also poses real challenges. now, donald trump has suggested the relationships with leaders from venezuela to nigeria. others in africa make him uniquely positioned to b

. secretary of state, trump favoring ex ceo of exxon/mobil, rex tillerson. if selected, expect to hear a lot about his ties with vladimir putin. and over to trump tower. when do you think we might hear a secretary of state announcement and if tillerson, they must be prepared for backlash here, ryan? >> reporter: yes. if they aren't, probably should be, on a transition conference call this morning, several transition officials saying we could hear this announcement sometimes in next couple of days and all signs point towards ex exxon/mobil ceo rex tillerson and already republicans voicing terns connections to russia talked about. john mccain, very concerned about ties to vladimir putin, a man he call as thug and murderer and marco rubio who sits on the foreign res relations committee. rubio tweeting in the last 24 hours any friend of vladimir putin is not someone he wants to see as secretary of state and rubio, in a powerful position on foreign relations because he could stop that confirmation before it even gets started. the fact trump is getting pushback from prominent republicans shows

york. breaking news out of the trump trance ig, nbc news learned the president-elect has chosen exxon mobil ceo rex tillerson as secretary of state. until trump makes an announcement things can obviously change. tillerson has spent his entire career at exxon mobil previously serving as liaison between the company and russia. he's known to have a close business republican with vladimir putin who awarded him the order of friendship, one of russia's highest honors for foreigners a few years ago. kasie hunt joins us by phone from the army navy game in baltimore. you spoke to john mccain at that game. what was his reaction? >> hi, betty. pretty interesting one, actually. the one concern here for the trump team, and this has been true broadly of many of his cabinet picks but particularly in this case has been how will the confirmation hearings go on capitol hill? will it be okay with republicans to vote in favor of many of these picks? it was an issue that rudy giuliani, quite frankly, had if he faced potential confirmation as secretary of state and i spoke briefly to senator john mccain. h

, exxon doesn't. the ceo of exxon, our secretary of state in waiting, he went to st. petersburg. he told the state department, screw you, we're going to make money. it's going to hurt you? boo whoo. he sat across from putin's shadow. one point they got a big hearty laugh at the expense of the united states. mr. tillerson got a question on how exxon was squaring their commitment to russia and the united states sanctions against russia. he got asked that question. this is how he answered. the best thing to watch for here, the guys who are hearing this in russian have to wait for the translation. there's a little bit of a delay. but as they get the translation and they hear what he's saying, watch for the thumbs up here. watch. >> well, okay, thank you. as to the sanctions questions i'll use the same approach my friend mr. sechin took and that's a question for the government. so if there's a u.s. government official that would like to respond, i'm happy to toss it to them. so let me move to technology. i think one of the most underappreciated aspects of the oil and natural gas business

. republicans have as well because of tillerson's ties to russia. exxon as an oil company has done n a number of deals with russia and he knows vladimir putin. that is drawing scrutiny from john mccain and lindsey graham and marco rubio. what does it mean for the other candidates? the many candidates we have seen cycle through the last couple weeks? obviously they did not get the job. most interestingly, mitt romney taking to facebook, saying he was honored to have been considered for the position and saying he has high hopes for the trump administration. this is a long way from calling the president-elect a phony and fake through the general election process. the two formed a mutual respect for one another. the president-elect even calling mitt romney on monday night to tell him he did not get the position. he appreciated his willingness to participate at all. obviously that's on the cabinet side of things. there is a big question of the conflict of interest side of things. president-elect was supposed to answer those questions this week touting his conference on december 15th to anno

secretary of state. exxon mobile tillerson. and is as that good news or bad news? >>> meanwhile the parade of familiar faces rolling on today. that's former texas governor that you're looking at right there. rick perry. tapped to be energy secretary. he'd be heading up an energy he once tried to eliminate. and then there's kanye west. probably the only person to visit trump tower in the past few weeks who doesn't want a job, maybe. so what's behind all of this? >> i just wanted to take a picture right now. >> okay. let's go to jim accosta this evening. it's almost too much to believe. you're covering another so-called thank you rally. this one in wisconsin. pivotal theme in trump's victory. how'd it go? >> reporter: well, there were no kanye sightings here, don. but there are some christmas trees behind me. and you can -- i guess say that donald trump was in sort of the christmas spirit tonight. although i think he feels it's better to receive a lectured victories than give them. he was giving a play by play of election night victory on november 8th. gobbling up about 22 minutes of

having his best thing since the election. the company did raise his company dividends. finally, exxon mobil, training nicely higher. through julysting 2013. they have agreed to cut supplies and really helped the oil price. as for whether or not these record highs for the dow can continue, are the markets frothy? #btv 3505.at the dow is traded nicely higher. it is up 13% on the year. on pace for the best year since 2013. on the bottom of the chart, we have the relative strength index. this is a momentum indicator. typically when it goes above 70. is aboveat the dow that 70 mark. it has been there for the longest stretch of the last year. the highest level since 1996. basically in 20 years. krinsky, heonathan is saying that overbought doesn't mean over. he has a point. it will be interesting to see whether this is a cautionary tale of caution or not. we have some breaking news on viacom. become an he is saying that it has stopped the explanation. it has named bob as permanent ceo. ceo of mtv,t nickelodeon and comedy central was looking to be reunited with cbs. redstone and her family do

that day, a giant russian oil company called rosneft signed a contract with exxon that would allow the two companies to drill the arctic together as well as the gulf of mexico, rosneft, that's a big political deal because the biggest stockholder is the russian government. the government owns 70%. this is the russian gornment going into a partnership with exxon. it was personal to putin as well. when that huge deal was signed you see from the byline there they signed it in the city of sochi, where the olympics were held. but they signed that deal at putin's house, at vladimir putin's black sea vacation house. that's literally with the ceo of exxonmobil went to sign this ginormous deal, putin's vacation deal. years later rosneft signed a stake in exxon's deep water exploration blocks. those 20 blocks gave rosneft access to 100,000 acres in the gulf of mexico. after that part of the deal was secured, it was time to say thank you. and so the ceo of exxonmobil tock a trip to st. petersburg and, again, his friend, vladimir putin, personally awarded him the order of friendship medal, that sam

>>> donald trump poised to pick the ceo of exxon mobile as his secretary of state, but there's already plenty of push back of rex tillerson and it is not just coming from republicans. >>> late night tweet from donald trump vowing to leave his business before the 20th. >>> and new details about rus a russia's meddling into the u.s. election. why moscow is trying to influence the outcome to donald trump. welcome to "early start." i'm george howell. >> i'm christine romans. it is december 13th. breaking overnight. donald trump is set to name his pick for secretary of state this morning. multiple sources tell cnn he has chosen exxon mobile ceo rex tillerson for the job. there are signs of trouble for the nomination and certainty over his views of climate change and his close relationship are vladimir putin raising concerns on both sides of the aisle. the latest from phil mattingly from trump tower. >> reporter: the pick is in. the president-elect will announce the exxon ceo will be his selection for secretary of state. nominating him because the two just hit it off. they found a hi

alarming and should have eliminated him, frankly. >> it's official, donald trump nominating exxon-mobil ceo rex tillerson as secretary of state setting off alarm bells with democrats and big name republicans as well. this is already shaping up as the first major brawl of the trump presidency and we will break it down for you. also on the agenda, role reversal. >> the president-elect indicated his intent if elected president to pursue warmer relations with russia. what better way to do that than to choose somebody awarded the order of friendship by vladimir putin to be the secretary of state. >> the republican president-elect is moving to thaw relations with russia. just years ago, democrats were ridiculing the republican nominee for the hard line stance on russia. why have the politics of russia changed so dramatically and so quickly? we will dive into that question. also on the agenda, canceled. >> what is the president-elect's plans to talk about divestment or getting rid of some of the conflicts of interest he might have? why did he delay his press conference? >> when you have massiv

over his choice for secretary of state. the exxon mobile ceo. and is it good news or bad news? meanwhile the parade of familiar faces at trump tower rolling on. rick perry tapped top energy secretary. he'd be heading an agency he once tried to eliminate, and then there's kanye west. probably the only person to visit trump tower in the last two weeks who doesn't want a job, maybe. >> i just want to take a picture right now. >> okay. let's go back to jim acosta in wisconsin for us this evening. j jim, good evening to you. you're covering another so-called thank you rally, this one in wisconsin. how did it go? >> reporter: well, there are no kanye sightings here. there are some christmas trees behind me. i guess you can see that donald trump was in sort of the christmas spirit tonight, although i think he feels it's better to receive election victories than -- he gobbled up about 22 minutes of this 50-inout rally talking about his victory on election night. he also defended some of the decisions he's made as president-elect. most specifically, rex tillerson as secretary of state.

for secretary of state has emerged. president-elect donald trump meeting with exxon mobile chief rex tillerson the apparent front run tore run the state department but first. [crowd noise] an exciting game. army beating navy. first time in 15 years and watching from the stands, president-elect donald trump. and we have live team coverage for you. we start with leland vitter from the bank stadium in baltimore. what a night it was. >> reporter: what a night it was especially if you are an army fan, julie. you can imagine the emotion to bring men and women to tears. that happened on the field and stands. a number of army veteran and west point alumni saying we have finally won after 14 years and last play of victory formation. and in the stands, the future commander in chief of the united states, donald trump taking in the game. he is the first president-elect. y we believe and continued the tradition of sitting on one side for the first time and navy on the second half. he told everyone i am neutral. >> it is humbling. it is a great honor but it is a great responsibility. when you see

donald trump's latest reality show who wants to be my secretary of state has been decided. exxon mobil ceo rex tillerson. tillerson is a millionaire many times over with the wealth of global business experience but no formal political or diplomatic experience. his nomination drawing praise and concern at the same time. do in large part to his long-standing business relationship with russian president vladimir putin. that may be a problem for some of trump's own party. like this guy. republican senator marco rubio. putting out a statement this morning saying in part that he has serious concerns about tillerson. and he's not alone there. but tillerson also picked up big endorsements from the likes of former secretaries of state condoleezza rice and james baker. this is the confirmation battle to watch, i can promise you, so stay tuned there. also new in transition this morning the president-elect has tapped former governor rick perry to head up the energy department. the same rick perry who said he wants to get rid of that department, even though sometimes he forgets which department he'

>>> tonight, confirmation showdown, as donald trump picks the powerful ceo of exxon mobil, with close ties to vladimir putin, to be america's secretary of state. tonight, concerns being raised even by big-name republicans, setting up a critical fight. >>> horror in aleppo. with the war-torn city on the brink of falling, terrified messages coming from inside. a frantic exodus to escape the slaughter. >>> car talk. the new plan to change the way we drive. imagine your car connected to every other car around. sensing a potential accident before you even have time to react. >>> dangerous appliance recall. the largest of its kind in history. in millions of kitchens, do you have one of these in yours? >>> and a matter of faith. a young girl blazing a trail, and inspiring america. "nightly news" begins right now. >>> from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening. after a lengthy and very public casting call through the lobby of trump tower, the president-elect ended the suspense today over one of the most coveted jobs in his

dollars worth of deals as the head of exxon with the russian government. he knows the players very well. that was, of course, one of the reasons donald trump says he is considering him. from a russian point of view, you have somebody they regard as a friend of russia, it opens up all sorts of possibilities in this relationship between the united states and russia. it's been at post cold worrilar over syria, eastern ukraine. with a friend of russia, supposedly in the white house and a position of secretary of state, that could really change. it's got people in russia genuinely excited. >> really? i mean, he did receive an award, the order of friendship, one of the highest awards that russia bestows on foreign citizens a few year ago. cnn money is reporting a fascinatie inine ining tidbit t. one of the reasons tillerson was selected for ceo of exxonmobil in 2006 was because of his relationship with russia. do you know how far back that goes? >> my understanding is that he started coming to russia as an executive with exxon back in 1999, which would have been exactly the same time whe

former company to move forward with billions of dollars of deals. of course he would leave exxon should he become secretary of state. joining me on the phone, someone who knows rix tillerson and the oil business extremely well, t. boone pickens. thanks for joining me from the middle of a snowstorm in texas. >> sure, thank you. >> tillerson's nomination has drawn comparisons to dwight eisenhower picking the ceo of general motors for his defense secretary. when asked about conflicts of interest, the man known as engine charlie wilson famously said, for years i thought what was good for our country was good for general motors and vice-versa. do you think rex tillerson subscribes to the same philosophy that what's good for exxonmobil is good for america or do you think he can and will truly separate the interests of big oil and business from the interests of the country? >> first, poppy, i was there, i remember engine charlie. so i do remember. rex tillerson, you know, he's winding up his career with exxon. and this is a fabulous opportunity for him to serve the country. and he is hi

relationship between exxon-mobil and vladimir putin in russia depends what that relationship is. it's a business relationship. as the head of exxon-mobil, he knows where the oil is. it's not like they are intimate friends and god parents to each other's children. >> kellyanne conway defending rex tillerson who emerged as the most likely pick for secretary of state. the ceo exxon-mobil. a business relationship with russia. three years ago, he was awarded the order of friendship, one of the highest honors russia gives to foreign citizens. that's if trump decides to go through with picking him. we have this drama and will he or will he not be picked. news of another boimt. busy day here. >> as usual. donald trump is at trump hour and it's always a busy time. the president of goldman sachs has been picked as director of national economic policy for the trump administration. this is the third person connected with goldman sachs who has been named by president-elect trump. he is a pick for nominee and along with steve bannon who has been connected with goldman sachs. in terms of rex tillerson

tell nbc news andrea michel president-elect trump has chosenen exxon/mobil ceo rex tillerson to be secretary of state. as we've learned, things can change and we are awaiting official announcement. tillerson spent his entire career at exxon/mobil and previously had interests in russia when boris yeltsin was in power and during that time developed a close relationship with vladimir putin. trump arrived in baltimore for the army/navy game a short time ago. msnbc has more in baltimore. >> reporter: betty, good afternoon. the army/navy clash going on right now. donald trump is going to spend time with both navy and army. that's traditionally what a president would do here. there's a form's ceremony. he's not going to participate in that, but observing some of those formalities. of course, so much focus today on the tillerson selection at secretary of state. his potential ties to russia and, of course, what we've learned about the cia assessment of russian hacking and interference in the united states election. new overnight, a "washington post" report confirmed by nbc that the cia beli

, exxon mobil and i think some of his experience much of it can be transferrable to the job of secretary state. >> we conclude with the new film "20th century women" and we spoke to the director mike mills and the film's star annette bening. >> my mom had him as a teenager during the depression and had to get out of high school because of the war and she's from that world and i'm a 1970s kid who grew up on punk rock and skateboarding. it's rudy valle meets the buzzcocks. >> that's when we continue. >> rose: funding for "charlie rose" has been provided by the following: >> and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information services worldwide. captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> good evening. i'm stephanie ruhle of nbc news filling in for charlie rose who is away. we begin with david sanger who co-authored how russian cyber power invaded the united states and the motive behind the hacking. did he seek to mar the brand of the american democracy and for stall activism for russian and invaders and weaken the next

met with ceo of exxon tillerson. he is head of the world's largest oil company with prayings in more than be 50 countries if nominated, tillerson may face tough scrutiny from the senate for long- standing ties with russia. brian joins us with more. hi, brian. >> reporter: the exxon ceo rex tillerson met with donald trump at trump tower. and president-elect trump was hugely impressed with tillerson in it the first meeting on tuesday. and now he emerges as the leading candidate to be the secretary of state, but not without controversy, mainly because of concerns of tillerson's ties with russia. tillerson made billion dollar business deals with russian state- owned company and has a close relationship with russian president putin. 2013 putin awarded him the order of friendship and tillerson opposed u.s. sanctions after russia invaded crimia. he's been ceo of exxon for a decade. it in an interview with chris wallace that airs on fox news sunday tomorrow, president-elect trump said tillerson's interactions and relationships with world leaders that makes him an attractive candidate to

communities and international leaders at his time on exxon. again, it is important to note donald trump and recollection tillerson did not know one another until this call was actually made. he came in for an initial meeting it. went well there was a level of comfort there. the two hit it off. most importantly they found their personal profiles matched up. they were deal makers. they viewed the world from a similar vain and that is how this came to be. those endorsements played an enormous role on getting recollection tillerson to this poin >> and rick perry, he once said he was going to abolish the department he's going to lead now. >> management skills were crucial there. you can look back at the 2011 date moment. you can look back at rick perry on "dancing with the stars." and you tend to forget he was the longest serving governor in the state of texas. equivalent pretty much to 11th largest economy in the world. during the time conservatives loved what he did with the state, particularly on issues with energy. those conservatives with were not only happy with perry himself but also

no public sector experience, but his work with exxon has sent him to dozens of countries where he built relationships with people from saudi arabia, yemen. that's the experience that trump says makes him qualified. trump tweeting, i have chosep one of the truly great business leaders of the world, rex tillerson. it's tillerson's deep ties to vladimir putin and russia that are certain to come under tough scrutiny. three years ago, putin honored him with the medf of friendship. it came after exxon won a contract to search for oil in parts of the russian-controlled arctic ocean. now, of course, he faces questions about his own business holdings and how he'll handle sanctions against putin. those are certain to come up in confirmation hearings going forward. >> all right, it is not all, as you say, his ties to vladimir putin. not all puppy dogs and rainbows in terms of enthusiasm for rex. you have even got republicans like john mccain and marco rubio who, yes, we know they're not donald trump enthusiasts. they don't seem to be too pleased about rex tillerson. >> i think you're exactly

cabinet, with controversial nominees. mr. trump has named exxon mobile chairman and ceo rex tillerson to be his secretary of state. tillerson is raising eyebrows over his close ties to rush. the president elect named rick perry to be energy secretary. when he ran for president, perry said he wanted to eliminate the energy department. although he couldn't remember its name at the time. nancy cordes reports. >> reporter: tillerson spent his career, more than four decades at exxon mobile. he has vast experienceoi business with foreign governments including russia. and that has already been met with some criticism from those inside and outside his party. at age 64, rex tiller sob has headed the world's largest publicly traded oil company nearly a dock aid. last year ranked 25 on forbes list of the most powerful people. under tillerson's leadership, exxon mobil struck a deal to begin drilling for oil in the arctic. but the project was halted three years later by western sanctions after russia invaded crimea. >> i'm going to comply with the sanctions. there is not any conversation otherwise ab

politics right now. overnight rex tillerson, ceo of exxon, is now sitting at the top and maybe perhaps the front runner as secretary of state as even donald trump last night, his interview is going to air on fox news sunday this morning, talking about rex tillerson. take a listen to his interview with chris wallace. >> let me ask you about rex tillerson. >> okay. >> head of exxonmobil. why cousin a business executive make sense as a chief diplomat. >> he's much more than a business executive. he's a world class player. he's in charge of i guess the largest company in the world. he's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much doubled the size of his next nearest competitor, a company that's been unbelievably managed. and to me a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. he does massive deals in russia for the company, not for himself, for the company. >> he came out of nowhere. obviously. >> right. he wasn't a house hold name. >> but condy rice and bob gates for two proponents of him, brought his name up to trump and others saying this is a guy who knows a

everything was worked out. now exxon is working with the whole government. there are concerns about a possible culture clash. it also isn't clear how rex tiller son feels about the state department and how they would do things. he would work with donald trump. he's been ceo for ten years. donald trump is a ceo now. >> you're talking about hard-nosed negotiations. rex tillerson, i would expect he is a hard-nosed negotiators because he made billions and billions of dollars for the exxon corporation. >> absolutely. >> sometimes diplomacy takes a more delicate touch. is he capable of that? >> i'm going to push back. i think the experience of a head of a multi-national energy company like exxon is actually pretty relevant here. i mean, what these guys do, typically they spend their days and nights talking to heads of problematic foreign governments. this is actually an industry, you know, you talk about long tail, oil and gas is probably the most strategic industry, the industry with the longest view. they're looking at 20, 30, 50 year time frames. they're dealing in long relationships wit