Donald Trump ‘set to snub Mitt Romney to name ExxonMobil oil boss with links to Vladimir Putin as secretary of state’

DONALD Trump is set to snub Mitt Romney to name ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson his secretary of state, according to reports.

Trump met with the boss of the oil and gas giant this morning, according to sources quoted by Reuters news agency.

A transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson, 64, had moved ahead of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Trump's deliberations.

And the pair’s meeting today comes ahead of the President-elect’s decision to name the businessman as the country's top diplomat, reported today, citing two sources close to the transition team.

As Exxon's CEO, Tillerson oversees operations in more than 50 countries, including Russia.

In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft – Russia's largest state-owned oil company – for joint oil exploration and production.

Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.

The businessman is also reported to have close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In 2013, the Kremlin bestowed the country's Order of Friendship honour on the oil boss – who went on to argue against sanctions at a shareholders’ meeting the following year.

"We do not support sanctions, generally, because we don't find them to be effective unless they are very well implemented comprehensively and that's a very hard thing to do," he said.

Tillerson added: "We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions."

One of ExxonMobil's biggest deals in Russia – worth a reported $500billion (£398billion) fell victim to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration after Putin’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

The news comes after a report by the CIA claimed Russia had interfered with the US election to actively help Donald Trump win the White House.

The US spy agency said that emails hacked from the Democratic Party and given to the controversial website WikiLeaks aided the Republican candidate’s win in November’s race.

Trump's pick to lead the State Department is one of his most important decisions and the deliberations are said to have become a source of tension within his transition team.

Chief of staff Reince Priebus was reported to have backed Romney.

But other advisers reportedly opposed the idea of picking the 2012 GOP nominee, given his fierce criticism of Trump during the campaign.

Tillerson, who has led Exxon Mobil since 2006, also met Trump earlier in the week.

In addition to Romney, Trump has also been considering Tennessee Senator Bob Corker and John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump announced Friday that Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who was an early favourite, was no longer under consideration.

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