FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 2016
On Saturday, December 10, Reuters reported that Donald Trump will nominated Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as the next Secretary of State.
CIEL President Carroll Muffett issued the following statement:
The nomination of Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State is unconscionable, irresponsible and potentially catastrophic. But we cannot view it in isolation. Without exception, Donald Trump has nominated a cabinet marked by inexperience, intractable conflicts of interest, and a demonstrated hatred of the agencies they’ve been tapped to lead and the people they are sworn to protect. Donald Trump appears intent to undo a century of environmental and social progress and return America to the age of robber barons and corporate trusts. Who better to turn to than Exxon, the granddaddy of them all?
From an Attorney General who sought to suppress Department of Justice inquiries into Exxon to an EPA head who tried to head off state-level Exxon investigations, to putting Exxon’s own CEO in charge of the country’s foreign affairs, Trump is creating a government OF Exxon BY Exxon FOR Exxon.