Reince Priebus blasts premature attacks on Rex Tillerson for secretary of state

Reince Priebus, the incoming White House chief of staff, said everybody is “jumping the shark” with hysterical criticism about Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson possibly being nominated for secretary of state.

Reports that President-elect Donald Trump plans to pick Mr. Tillerson as America’s top diplomat spurred criticism from every corner, including from senators on both sides of the aisle.

“This sort of analysis is a little premature. But as to Rex Tillerson, he is one of the preeminent business people not just in America but in the entire world,” Mr. Priebus said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Sen. Bob Melendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the potential nomination “alarming and absurd.”

Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is concerned about Mr. Tillerson’s close business relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Environmental groups objected to putting a Big Oil executive in charge of foreign policy.

“It’s amazing to me that immediately everybody is just jumping the shark on this,” said Mr. Priebus.

He stressed that Mr. Trump has not made an announcement about his choice for secretary of state and that the announcement likely would not come until later in the week.

“The president-elect is making a decision,” he said, noting the long list of candidates that includes 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former CIA director Davide H. Petraeus and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker.

But Mr. Priebus steadfastly defended the qualifications of Mr. Tillerson, 64, who has run the Texas-based oil company and its dealings around the globe since 2004.

“I think he is qualified to be secretary of state. Absolutely,” he said. “It isn’t just business deals. It’s an extensive knowledge of our relationships across the globe and a knowledge of international law, an extensive knowledge about how deals are put together in places of the world that are very sensitive and intergovernmental relationships that are very unique to Rex Tillerson.”

Mr. Priebus brushed aside reports that Mr. Tillerson attended a global business expo earlier this year in Russia hosted by President Vladimir Putin, despite requests from U.S. government not to attend.

“It might unnerve people who think that the best route for our country to go is to ignore people and to have an enemies list and adhere to that list,” he said. “I just don’t believe, and neither does the president-elect, that solving the world’s biggest problems are best done by ignoring people and having, you know, crummy relationships across the globe.”

Mr. Priebus concluded: “We just don’t believe that talking to people having relationships is a bad thing. I would venture to guess that Rex Tillerson doesn’t agree with that, either.”