It doesn’t take much to impress Coons.
“Encouraged”–that’s how U.S. Senator Chris Coons described his conversation Wednesday with Rex Tillerson, President-elect Trump’s pick for secretary of state.
Coons said it was a generally constructive positive but open conversation, and Coons’s central question for Tillerson was about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his views on Russia since he did a lot of business with the county as the head of Exxon/Mobil.
“It’s clear to me that my concerns are really more focused on what President-elect Trump has been saying in his Tweets about his view of Putin and his view of Russia and that Mr. Tillerson has a fairly clear-eyed view of the threat to NATO and to the west that Putin presents,” Coons told WDEL News.
Coons added that he will continue to explore this issue with Tillerson at his confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He also discussed Trump’s criticism of the intelligence agencies in his response to the Russian hacking allegations.
“That was of grave concern to me,” said Coons. “He is not yet fully briefed on the situation, and I’m willing to give him the time to get briefed.”
Coons said he believes Tillerson will be fully briefed by his confirmation hearing.
