President-elect set to announce Secretary of State today

U.S. President-elect

The Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York reports that Trump made the announcement on his Twitter handle on Monday night.

“I will be making my announcement on the next Secretary of State tomorrow morning,” Trump said on Twitter.

However, CBS News said sources confirmed that the president-elect would name Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.

The president-elect reportedly praised Tillerson on Sunday, but some Republicans have expressed doubts due to the Russian connections.

It recalled Trump’s recently pointing to Tillerson’s deep relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a selling point.

As ExxonMobil’s head, Tillerson maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, an honour for a foreign citizen.

Trump’s search for secretary of state had lasted several weeks.

The president-elect initially considered former rival for Republican Party nomination in 2012 and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus was also named as a contender for the office.

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had also been discussed as a possible pick for secretary of state, but last week, Trump announced that Giuliani had removed his name from consideration for a cabinet position.

He had also considered a one-time vocal critic, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who leads the Foreign Relations Committee, and Tillerson, the oil industry executive who met twice with Trump during the past week.

“It’s a matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin. And obviously they’ve done enormous deals together. That would colour his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat,” CBS quoted Senator John McCain as saying of Tillerson in an interview.