Posted: 12:08 pm PT
Updated: 1:15 pm PT
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NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports that Donald Trump is expected to nominate Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, citing two sources close to the transition process. The announcement is likely to happen next week, but the sources cautioned that nothing is final until the president-elect officially announces the pick.  As secretary of state, Tillerson would be fourth in line to the presidency. The report also says that Tillerson will be paired with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton as his deputy secretary of state for day-to-day management of the department, one source added.

350.org, a movement focusing on the challenge of the climate crisis  called  Trump’s nominee Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection, a “Puppet of the fossil fuel industry.”  And it already has a petition online opposing the potential appointment of Rex Tillerson to the State Department: “This Cabinet pick might be one of the worst yet (and that’s saying something). Exxon is the largest oil company in the world. It has funded climate misinformation for decades and violated human rights across the planet. … If Exxon takes control of the State Department, they can undo all the climate progress we’ve made at the international level. They’ll be able to wield the Department as an arm of the fossil fuel industry, opening up new oil and gas development around the world and crushing dissent.”

After news broke that Tillerson is Trump’s pick, 350.org released a new “Stop Rex” campaign banner and a statement saying “Tillerson may be a friend of Putin’s, but he’s no friend of the planet” and promised to pressure “Senators to turn the confirmation process into a hearing on ExxonMobil’s history of climate deception.”

Here is a sobering read related to ExxonMobil, Tillerson and the Rockefeller Family Fund’s divestment from fossil fuels:

“[O]ur organization, the Rockefeller Family Fund (RFF), announced that it would divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. We mean to do this gradually, but in a public statement we singled out ExxonMobil for immediate divestment because of its “morally reprehensible conduct.”1 For over a quarter-century the company tried to deceive policymakers and the public about the realities of climate change, protecting its profits at the cost of immense damage to life on this planet. Our criticism carries a certain historical irony. John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil, and ExxonMobil is Standard Oil’s largest direct descendant. In a sense we were turning against the company where most of the Rockefeller family’s wealth was created.”

Read more below. Click here for RFF’s divestment statement.

More clips to read:

Here are a couple of speeches Tillerson did at The Economic Club and CFR and a sit down with Charlie Rose:

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