Donald Trump’s leading candidate for secretary of state, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, would accelerate the president-elect's collision course with Congress over his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and raise new questions about Putin’s role in the election. 
 
 Tillerson, whom Trump officials now call the front-runner for America’s top diplomatic job, has spent hours with Putin negotiating billions of dollars in Russian oil projects, and is believed to be on friendlier terms with the Russian autocrat than all but a handful of Americans. He has also been critical of U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014. 
 
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 The potential selection of a Putin friend for the critical post is raising alarm in both parties that Trump intends to act on his campaign talk of refashioning a U.S.-Russian relationship now at its most adversarial point since the end of the Cold War. 
 
 Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are likely to mount aggressive opposition to Tillerson, according to sources familiar with their thinking. 
 
 “I don’t know what Mr. Tillerson's relationship with Vladimir Putin was,” McCain said in a Saturday interview with Fox News. “But I’ll tell you it is a matter of concern to me." 
 
 On Friday, McCain’s former longtime chief of staff, Mark Salter, tweeted that Tillerson would “sell out NATO for [Russian] oil and his pal, Vlad. Should be a rough confirmation hearing, and a no vote on the Senate floor.” 
 
 Democrats are also pledging a rough path to confirmation. 
 
 “The Putin relationship will be a major focus” of any Tillerson confirmation hearings, said a Senate Democratic aide. “Tillerson and the company opposed sanctions efforts on Russia, he has received an award from Putin, and has done extensive oil business generally in the country," the aide said. 
 
 In a Saturday afternoon statement, a Democratic National Committee spokesman called Trump’s presumed choice of Tillerson “outrageous,” calling it "another victory for Vladimir Putin, who interfered in our election to help elect Trump and now has a close ally with no foreign policy experience serving as America’s top diplomat." 
 
 Tillerson’s rising stock at Trump Tower comes at a particularly volatile moment. On Friday, U.S. officials disclosed that the CIA has concluded Putin’s government sought to influence the November presidential election in Trump’s favor. On Friday night, Trump’s office issued a defiant statement saying that U.S. intelligence officials are “the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction” and that it’s “time to move on.” 
 
 But Democrats and many Republicans are not ready to do so. Also on Friday, President Barack Obama’s homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, said that Obama has ordered an intelligence review of election-related Russian hacking. The findings of that report could fuel planned GOP hearings on Russian cyber activities. Incoming Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is also demanding bipartisan congressional action on the issue early next month, POLITICO reported Saturday. 
 
 “[I]f they’re able to disrupt elections, then it’s a national security issue, obviously,” McCain told reporters on Friday. He has been the most outspoken critic of a potential thaw with Russia, issuing a statement days after last month’s election warning that “the price of another ‘reset’” with Russia “is unacceptable.” (Obama and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, pursued a Russia “reset” policy in his first term, though his counterpart at the time was not Putin but then-Russian President Dimitri Medvedev.) 
 
 A confirmation hearing for Tillerson would surely involve tough questions about his connection to Putin, who awarded Tillerson and several other energy executives an Order of Friendship medal in 2012. 
 
 “I agree, as you point out, that nothing strengthens relationships between countries better than business enterprise,” Tillerson told Putin during a June 2012 meeting at an oil refinery on Russia’s Black Sea coast. 
 
 Western sanctions on Moscow, imposed as punishment for Putin’s annexation of Crimea and his support for a pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine’s east, have hit ExxonMobil hard. Tillerson, who became the company’s CEO in 2006 after starting his career as a production engineer there in 1975, signed agreements with Moscow to explore or drill in Siberia, the Black Sea and the Russian Arctic. 
 
 The sanctions have halted Exxon projects in the country, including a $700 million joint venture with the Russian oil giant Rosneft to drill in the Arctic Kara Sea. In a 2015 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company estimated its maximum potential losses due to Western sanctions at $1 billion. 
 
 Tillerson is hardly the only Western executive to do business with Putin, whose country is one of the world’s largest energy exporters. But at least one of Exxon’s major deals with Moscow was sealed after Putin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea began a new period of hostility with Washington. 
 
 That’s why Tillerson could face hard questions from several GOP Russia hawks who sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which must vote to advance any secretary of state nomination to the full Senate. They include Florida’s Marco Rubio, who has called Putin “a gangster and a thug”; Wyoming’s John Barrasso, who has complained of Putin’s “belligerence”; and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who said in October that the U.S. “should really have physically gone in” to Ukraine to defend it from Russian aggression. 
 
 Tillerson could also be an awkward fit with Trump’s pick for defense secretary, James Mattis. The retired Marine general told an audience at Washington’s Heritage Foundation in May 2015 that the threat from Russia “is much more severe and much more dangerous than we have acknowledged.” 
 
 Other reported top candidates for Trump’s secretary of state also take a dim view of Putin, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, retired Army Gen. and former CIA Director David Petraeus, and retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis. 
 
 The idea that Trump might dictate the U.S.-Russia relationship is a source of enormous frustration to congressional Democrats, and particularly former aides to Clinton’s presidential campaign, who have been impatient to see the Obama White House take stronger action in response to what the intelligence community has concluded was the Kremlin-backed hacking of Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign emails. 
 
 While the CIA believes Russia was actively working to elect Trump — which would be consistent with a strongly anti-Clinton, pro-Trump bent in Kremlin-backed media — The New York Times reported in October that FBI and other intelligence officials reportedly believed that Russia was trying only to disrupt the U.S. election. 
 
 “One would also have to be willfully blind not to see that these Russian actions were uniformly damaging to Secretary Clinton and helpful to Donald Trump. I do not believe this was coincidental or unintended,” Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement Saturday. Schiff called for a “thorough investigation” by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. 
 
 Though the hacked Democratic emails lacked a bombshell revelation, they created a steady drumbeat of embarrassing and negative stories — including several about the machinations of the controversial Clinton Foundation — that distracted from Clinton’s message and fueled GOP attacks against her. In the view of some Democrats, those revelations may have tilted the electoral balance in Trump’s favor. Clinton currently holds a 2.7 million-vote lead in the popular vote, but Trump carried the Electoral College thanks to narrow wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by a cumulative total of little more than 100,000 votes. 
 
 Clinton aides remain furious that media coverage focused on the emails themselves and not the Russian role in their release, mostly via the website WikiLeaks. 
 
 Many Democrats and Obama administration officials would like to see stronger White House action to punish Putin for staging what some believe was a kind of soft coup. Some fantasize about seeing Putin’s reputed vast wealth exposed through leaked documents. 
 
 "Whether you attack us by MiG [fighter jet] or by mouse, it's an attack. It requires a response. It's clear that they were responsible for the cyberattack on our country in this past election,” Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters in mid-November. 
 
 Their hopes were raised when Vice President Joe Biden, in a mid-October interview, said with a grin that the U.S. would respond “at the time of our choosing, and under the circumstances that have the greatest impact.” 
 
 But officials say Obama’s options are limited. 
 
 The White House fears that Putin is likely more willing to escalate such a conflict. More importantly, they say he would have an advantage in a widening cyber war because the U.S. and Western Europe are far more integrated into the internet — making them more vulnerable targets than Russian government and industry. 
 
 Obama has also been openly wary about the precedent of a cyber war. 
 
 After a September meeting with Putin in China last month, in which he is believed to have raised the DNC email hack, Obama said he was wary of “a cycle of escalation” in the cyber realm. 
 
 “What we cannot do is have a situation in which suddenly this becomes the wild, wild West, where countries that have significant cyber capacity start engaging in unhealthy competition or conflict through these means,” Obama said. 
 
 Obama could impose new sanctions on Russia or its top officials through executive orders. But Trump could reverse them with a stroke of his pen next month. ||||| FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump says he’ll reduce the costs of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, Lockheed Martin’s... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump says he’ll reduce the costs of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, after he takes office. The president-elect tweeted Monday that the “F-35... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST): 
 
 10:30 p.m. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump has selected Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department. 
 
 That's according to two people close to Trump's transition team. 
 
 The decision caps a lengthy process that often played out In public and exposed rifts within Trump's transition team. But Tillerson's close ties to Russia could still complicate his Senate confirmation hearings. 
 
 Trump was set to formally announce Tillerson's nomination Tuesday morning. The people close to Trump's transition insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the pick ahead of that announcement. 
 
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 10 p.m. 
 
 Mitt Romney appears to be out of the running for secretary of state, writing on Facebook that it "was an honor to have been considered" for the job in Donald Trump's Cabinet. 
 
 Romney writes: "My discussions with President-elect Trump have been both enjoyable and enlightening. I have very high hopes that the new administration will lead the nation to greater strength, prosperity and peace." 
 
 Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential candidate, was a vocal critic of Trump during the election. Some of Trump's senior advisers warned that tapping Romney for the job at State would anger the president-elect's loyal supporters. 
 
 Trump plans to announce his secretary of state pick Tuesday. Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as the leading candidate. 
 
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 7:40 p.m. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump says he'll announce his pick for secretary of state Tuesday morning. 
 
 Trump revealed his plans Monday night on Twitter. His search for the country's top diplomat has stretched out in a highly public fashion for weeks. 
 
 Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson has emerged as the leading candidate. He has met twice with Trump during the past week. 
 
 In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Trump pointed to Tillerson's deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. As Exxon Mobil's head, Tillerson maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by President Vladimir Putin with the Order of Friendship, an honor for foreign citizens. 
 
 Other candidates considered by Trump include former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, once a vocal Trump critic, and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who leads the Foreign Relations Committee. 
 
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 7:30 p.m. 
 
 A federal judge has rejected an attempt to suspend a Colorado law requiring the state's nine electors to vote for the state winner of the presidential election. 
 
 The move delivers a severe setback to a longshot plan by a handful of electors to deny Donald Trump the presidency. Hillary Clinton won Colorado, but some of the state's Democratic electors hoped to join with Republican ones elsewhere to choose another Republican rather than Trump. 
 
 Two of the Colorado electors sued to suspend the state law that requires them to vote for the state winner. They argued it violates their First Amendment rights. 
 
 An attorney for Trump filed papers contending the litigation would undermine the electoral college. 
 
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 6:40 p.m. 
 
 Donald Trump is postponing this week's planned news conference on the future of his business empire until next month because he wants to ensure that "proper protocols are put in place." 
 
 Sean Spicer, a Trump transition team spokesman, says the legal team needs more time to work out the plan for the Trump Organization. In an interview over the weekend, the president-elect said he would not participate in management nor would he "do deals" for his international company, but instead would leave management to his children and company executives. 
 
 Trump had said on Twitter last month that he would hold a "major news conference" Dec. 15 to discuss how the company would move forward once he takes office in January. 
 
 But Spicer said in an email Monday, "With so many iconic properties and successful entities, moving the announcement to January ensures the legal team has ample time to ensure the proper protocols are put in place so his sole focus will remain on the country and achieving his ambitious agenda with the help of the world-class cabinet he has built." 
 
 Trump takes office Jan. 20. 
 
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 6:20 p.m. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump is postponing until next month a planned announcement on the future of his business empire. 
 
 Trump had said on Twitter that he would discuss his business Thursday. But Trump spokesman Sean Spicer and spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in emails Monday that the event has been rescheduled for January. They did not provide details. 
 
 Trump briefly addressed business conflicts in an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News. He said he would not manage the Trump Organization but left open retaining his ownership stake. He said his children and company executives would run the international business while he is in the White House. 
 
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 5 p.m. 
 
 Future first lady Melania Trump has attended a hearing in a courthouse in Maryland as part of legal proceedings in a defamation suit. 
 
 Trump lawyer Charles J. Harder says in a statement that Trump attended the 24-minute hearing Monday morning in Montgomery County, Maryland, circuit court. Trump filed the suit in September, alleging that a Maryland blogger and the Daily Mail Online falsely accused her of being involved with an escort agency during her modeling career. 
 
 Harder says Trump was not required to attending the scheduling conference, but did so to show her commitment to the case. 
 
 The Washington Post reports that lawyers for the Daily Mail Online and blogger Webster Tarpley were present. 
 
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 3:05 p.m. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump has formally tapped Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn for a top White House economic post. 
 
 Cohn will serve as director of the National Economic Council, heading a department with a key role in policymaking. The post does not require Senate confirmation. 
 
 In a statement, Trump says Cohn will "put his talents as a highly successful businessman to work for the American people." 
 
 Trump was critical of Goldman Sachs during the presidential campaign and lambasted Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for giving paid speeches to the Wall Street giant. But he's now chosen three people with ties to the bank for his administration, including Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary nominee, and Steve Bannon, Trump's chief strategist and senior counselor. 
 
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 2:40 p.m. 
 
 The White House is shooting down the notion floated by one of President-elect Donald Trump's potential State Department picks that the Obama administration may have framed Russia with false hacking allegations. 
 
 Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said over the weekend that the cyber interference in the election might have been a "false flag" and left open the possibility it was done by the Obama administration. A false flag is an operation designed to look like it was perpetrated by someone else. 
 
 White House spokesman Josh Earnest says he can rule out that possibility. He says a "wide range of irresponsible conspiracy theorists" have floated the theory. 
 
 Bolton has been on Trump's list of potential candidates for secretary of state. Trump's transition team says Bolton is also being considered for another State Department role. 
 
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 1:50 p.m. 
 
 The White House says the U.S. relationship with Taiwan should not be used as a bargaining chip to increase leverage with China over trade and other issues. 
 
 Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump told "Fox News Sunday" that he wouldn't feel "bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade." 
 
 White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that adhering to a policy of one China has allowed for a close trading partner in Taiwan and a "constructive relationship" with China. 
 
 Earnest says efforts to curb global warming and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon could not have occurred without China's help. 
 
 Earnest says progress benefiting the American people and the Chinese is "much more difficult if tensions are heightened around our one-China policy." 
 
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 1:42 p.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton's campaign is backing an effort by members of the Electoral College to request an intelligence briefing on foreign interference in the presidential election. 
 
 Top political aide John Podesta says electors have "a solemn responsibility under the Constitution" and should have their questions answered. 
 
 Her campaign is also calling on the Obama administration to declassify information around Russia's role in the election. 
 
 Weekend reports found that some in the intelligence community believe Russia released hacked emails to aide President-elect Donald Trump. A bipartisan group in the Senate is calling for an investigation. 
 
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 1:40 p.m. 
 
 The White House says it supports an investigation by Congress into the role that Russia played in last month's president election. 
 
 GOP leaders in both chambers say that committees will be looking into cyber threats, even as President-elect Donald Trump has said the recent CIA assertion that Russian hacking had sought to help his candidacy was "ridiculous." 
 
 White House spokesman Josh Earnest says that one of the goals of an intelligence review ordered by President Barack Obama is to compile information that can be presented to Congress. 
 
 Earnest says the congressional review "is certainly warranted when you consider the stakes and the consequences." 
 
 Earnest is also praising intelligence officials, saying the men and women in the intelligence community are "patriots" and that the president has benefited enormously from their expertise. 
 
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 1:18 p.m. 
 
 House Speaker Paul Ryan says the House Intelligence Committee will look into cyber threats such as hacking by Russia of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. 
 
 But the Wisconsin Republican says any investigation "should not cast doubt on the clear and decisive outcome of this election." He also chided those who would exploit the work of the U.S. intelligence community for "partisan purposes." 
 
 Ryan said that Russian interference into the election is "especially problematic" since President Vladimir Putin's Russia is an aggressor that undermines U.S. interests. 
 
 Ryan's statement came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also called for a continuing probe into charges that the Russian government hacked into the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta's email account. 
 
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 12:15 p.m. 
 
 Former technology executive Carly Fiorina says she has discussed foreign policy and hacking threats with President-elect Donald Trump. 
 
 Fiorina met with her former rival for the GOP presidential nomination Monday in Trump Tower. She said they discussed "China as probably our most important adversary" and hacking, "whether it's Chinese hacking or purported Russian hacking." 
 
 Fiorina said Trump has a ripe opportunity to "literally reset things" and said he is getting "fantastic people in his administration." She did not respond to questions about whether she is up for a role in his Cabinet. 
 
 During the Republican primary, Fiorina won applause from women on both sides of the aisle when she pushed back on Trump after he suggested her face is unattractive. 
 
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 12:04 p.m. 
 
 A senior Lockheed Martin official is defending the price tag of the F-35 stealth fighter and said he is ready to answer any questions Donald Trump may have regarding the price tag. 
 
 Jeff Babione, executive vice president and general manager of the F-35 program. said it is the most affordable plane of its kind. 
 
 He spoke Monday after Trump tweeted he'll cut the costs of the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program after he takes office. 
 
 Babione is in Israel as it prepares to receive the first two next-generation F-35 fighter jets. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:48 a.m. 
 
 A handful of members of the Electoral College are demanding an intelligence briefing on whether the government is investigating links between Trump's campaign and Russia. 
 
 Ten electors released an "open letter" to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper requesting information about ongoing investigations on ties between Trump and any Russian government interference in the election. One is a rogue Republican who says he won't vote for president-elect Donald Trump. 
 
 The letter released on the social media site Medium was written by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California. Also signing the letter is Chris Suprun, a Texas Republican who says he won't vote for Trump, citing a Federalist paper by Alexander Hamilton that says electors must determine that the president is qualified and independent from foreign influence. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:40 a.m. 
 
 Donald Trump has spoken with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. 
 
 A statement from Rajoy's office said the prime minister congratulated Trump personally for winning the U.S. election. Rajoy had previously only sent a telegram, shortly after the vote. 
 
 They talked about strengthening bilateral relations and touched on international issues, especially the partnership in fighting jihadism. They also spoke about the consequences of Brexit and the global economic situation. 
 
 Trump's transition team gave no readout on the call. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:05 a.m. 
 
 Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has strongly condemned any foreign meddling to influence the U.S. election. McConnell spoke to reporters Monday, a day after President-elect Donald Trump said the recent CIA assertion that Russian hacking had sought to help his candidacy was "ridiculous." 
 
 McConnell says that the "Russians are not our friends" and condemned Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee and other "U.S. political organizations." 
 
 The Kentucky Republican says the Senate Intelligence Committee will investigate. He made his remarks as Trump continues to downplay the CIA's confidential assessment that the Russian government hacked into the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta's email account. 
 
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 8:55 a.m. 
 
 Donald Trump says he'll reduce the costs of the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program — Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — after he takes office. 
 
 The president-elect tweeted Monday that the "F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th." 
 
 The tweet comes the same day Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Israel as it prepared to receive the first two next-generation F-35 fighter jets intended to help preserve the country's military edge in the volatile Mideast. 
 
 The F-35 program has an estimated cost of nearly $400 billion. Israel is among a small number of allies to get the plane. 
 
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 8:40 a.m. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump is trying to cast new doubt on the CIA's conclusion that Russia tried to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. 
 
 He's tweeting Monday that "it's very hard to determine who was doing the hacking." He adds that if his campaign had lost the election and "we tried to play the Russia/CIA card. It would be called conspiracy theory!" 
 
 That there was hacking in 2016 and previous elections is not in dispute, nor is it a newly-discussed revelation. There's broad agreement from President Barack Obama and lawmakers of both parties on investigations into which countries were responsible, including, but not limited to, Russia. 
 
 Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, who joined Senate Democrats Sunday to call for an immediate bipartisan investigation, said Monday on "CBS This Morning" that probes are essential because hacking could be a new form of warfare. 
 
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 7:30 a.m. 
 
 A top adviser to Donald Trump says the CEO of Exxon Mobil is an attractive candidate for secretary of state in part because he's done business deals with Russia. 
 
 Kellyanne Conway told two television network morning shows Monday that Rex Tillerson has long and appropriate ties with top Russian officials. She says, "It's not like Vladimir Putin and Rex Tillerson are pounding down vodka at the local bar. They're not intimate friends, but they deal with each other through business interests." 
 
 Trump has said that Tillerson's relationships in Russia are part of his appeal as a finalist for secretary of state. Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate have said those ties are a concern. Those comments have raised questions about whether Tillerson can be confirmed. 
 
 Trump has said he expects to make public his choice for the high-profile Cabinet post later this week. 
 
 ___ 
 
 3:18 a.m. 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump is facing an early test with fellow Republicans over U.S. relations with Russia. Lawmakers are seeking to investigate purported Russian interference in the November election and question the incoming president's potential pick for secretary of state. 
 
 Trump said Sunday that a recent CIA assessment that Russian hacking had sought to help his candidacy was "ridiculous." And he praised ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has emerged as the leading contender to lead the State Department. 
 
 But two key Senate Republicans — John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a leading Trump critic — joined with two Democrats in seeking a bipartisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities during the election. And McCain questions the possible choice of Tillerson because of close ties with Moscow. ||||| FILE- In this Dec. 9, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters during a rally, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump is facing an early test with fellow Republicans over U.S.... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this Dec. 9, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters during a rally, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump is facing an early test with fellow Republicans over U.S. relations with Russia. Lawmakers are seeking to investigate Russian interference in the November... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE- In this Dec. 9, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters during a rally, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump is facing an early test with fellow Republicans over U.S. relations with Russia. Lawmakers are seeking to investigate Russian interference in the November... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Dec. 9, 2016, file photo, President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters during a rally, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump is facing an early test with fellow Republicans over U.S.... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is facing an early test with fellow Republicans over U.S. relations with Russia, as lawmakers seek to investigate a CIA assessment that Russia interfered in the November election and issue warnings over the incoming president's potential pick for secretary of state. 
 
 Trump said Sunday the recent CIA assertion that Russian hacking had sought to help his candidacy was "ridiculous," and he praised ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has emerged as the leading contender to lead the State Department. 
 
 But two key Senate Republicans — John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a leading Trump critic — joined with two Democrats in seeking a bipartisan investigation into the Kremlin's activities during the election. And McCain, the party's 2008 presidential nominee, questioned whether Trump should nominate Tillerson, citing the executive's longstanding business ties with Moscow. 
 
 "It's a matter of concern to me that he has such a close personal relationship with Vladimir Putin," McCain said of Tillerson. "And obviously they've done enormous deals together." In an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation," McCain said, "That would color his approach to Vladimir Putin and the Russian threat." 
 
 Russia expects to figure prominently at the start of a week in which Trump is expected to name more members of his Cabinet, which also has vacancies in the departments of Energy, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs. Trump is also planning a news conference on Thursday to outline how he intends to separate himself from his sprawling business enterprise. 
 
 During his campaign, Trump weathered turbulent relations with fellow Republicans but has since forged a more united front with GOP lawmakers since his November victory over Hillary Clinton. 
 
 The CIA recently concluded with "high confidence" that Russia sought to influence the U.S. election on behalf of Trump, raising red flags among lawmakers concerned about the sanctity of the U.S. voting system and potentially straining relations at the start of Trump's administration. 
 
 In a wide-ranging interview with "Fox News Sunday," Trump dismissed those concerns as little more than partisan griping. "I think the Democrats are putting it out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics in this country. And frankly, I think they're putting it out. And it's ridiculous," Trump said. 
 
 The incoming president said he did not necessarily oppose calls from President Barack Obama for an inquiry into the 2016 campaign hacking but said it should not be solely focused on a single culprit. 
 
 "If you're gonna to do that, I think you should not just say 'Russia.' You should say other countries also, and maybe other individuals," he said. The White House has said the probe would focus on any breaches by other countries along with hacking committed in previous elections. 
 
 Trump's decision-making on whom to select for secretary of state has stretched out over several weeks. He has been considering former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a one-time vocal Trump 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. 
 
 In the television interview, Trump pointed to Tillerson's deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. As ExxonMobil's head, he maintained close ties with Russia and was awarded by Putin with the Order of Friendship in 2013, an honor for a foreign citizen. 
 
 "A great advantage is he knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia. He does massive deals for the company," Trump said, while also citing Corker and Romney. 
 
 "These are all very different types of people," he said. "But when you ask me about Rex, I mean, he's a world-class player. There's no question about it." By Sunday afternoon, Tillerson had still not been formally offered the job, according to a person with knowledge of the process who spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
 Democrats have warned that plucking Tillerson for State would put the leader of the world's largest oil company in a pivotal role on issues like climate change and the future of the Keystone XL pipeline. They also question whether he would apply diplomatic pressure on Russia's conflict with Ukraine. 
 
 Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the developments "raise serious questions about whether the incoming administration will adequately stand up to Russia's aggression." 
 
 The prospect of Tillerson also received a cool reception from some Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which would consider his nomination. 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the GOP nomination, wrote on Twitter, "Being a 'friend of Vladimir' is not an attribute I am hoping for from a (hashtag)SecretaryOfState." 
 
 Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he would reserve judgment. The committee also includes Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a Trump detractor during the campaign. 
 
 Russia's influence has also been seized upon by a small group of Democratic electors who call themselves the "Hamilton Electors" and are trying to persuade electors to back another Republican because they contend Trump is unfit to be president. 
 
 Trump won 306 electoral votes in the election, a comfortable margin to make him the next president when the electoral college meets Dec. 19. But the Hamilton Electors want the CIA and FBI to provide more details on Russia's influence before that date. 
 
 "We believe that we should do our job faithfully as electors and not just rubber stamp the election," said Michael Baca, a Democratic elector from Colorado who co-founded the group. 
 
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 Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in Washington and Alex Sanz in Atlanta contributed to this report. ||||| ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson is a potential nominee for secretary of state. Here's what you need to know about Tillerson. (Thomas Johnson,Victoria Walker,Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post) 
 
 ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson is a potential nominee for secretary of state. Here's what you need to know about Tillerson. (Thomas Johnson,Victoria Walker,Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post) 
 
 President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name as his secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, who has worked extensively around the globe and built relationships with such leaders as Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, three people close to the transition team confirmed Saturday. 
 
 Tillerson’s nomination could face intense scrutiny in the Senate, considering his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company. Already, two leading Republican hawks, Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), have voiced concerns about Tillerson’s serving as the nation’s top diplomat because of his ties to Putin. 
 
 Trump spokesman Jason Miller said Saturday that there would be no official announcement about a secretary of state until this coming week “at the earliest.” 
 
 But three officials briefed on Trump’s deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the pick would be Tillerson, barring a late and unanticipated shift in Trump’s thinking. NBC News first reported that Trump has settled on Tillerson. 
 
 [The Fix: Who is Rex Tillerson?] 
 
 View Graphic Here are the people Trump has chosen for his Cabinet 
 
 Trump is considering nominating for deputy secretary of state John R. Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations and a combative hawk whose tenure in the George W. Bush administration was controversial, two of the officials said. 
 
 Trump spent a month deliberating over the secretary of state position and interviewed an array of candidates, including Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, who was opposed by some of Trump’s closest advisers because he had been the face of the Republican resistance to Trump’s presidential candidacy. Other contenders included former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 
 
 The search at times resembled Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” with the hopefuls parading before journalists — and, in the case of Giuliani, publicly campaigning for the job before announcing Friday that he had withdrawn from consideration. 
 
 [Trump’s advisers clash over Mitt Romney as secretary of state] 
 
 Tillerson’s stock rose late in the process, after he met with the president-elect on Tuesday and again on Saturday morning at Trump Tower in New York. Trump settled on Tillerson, 64, because he projects gravitas, is regarded as a skillful manager and personally knows many foreign leaders through his dealings on behalf of the energy giant, people close to Trump said. 
 
 In an excerpt of an interview with Fox News, which will be aired in full Sunday, Trump praises Tillerson, although he does not reveal his decision. 
 
 “He’s much more than a business executive; he’s a world-class player,” Trump says. “He knows many of the players, and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia — for the company, not for himself.” 
 
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 Tillerson’s nomination would fit the pattern of other Trump selections — wealthy business leaders with little experience in policymaking. But Tillerson has spent years dealing with the complexities of one of the world’s biggest enterprises, spanning six continents and about six dozen nations. 
 
 The company’s deep ties to Russia would potentially serve Tillerson well, given Trump’s desire to repair relations with the Kremlin. But Tillerson’s close ties to Putin could also become a flash point during confirmation hearings, especially in light of a recent CIA assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system. 
 
 [Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House] 
 
 “Few corporate titans are closer to Putin than Tillerson,” said Jason Bordoff, founder of Columbia University’s center for global energy. “So his pick, along with Trump’s campaign rhetoric, would suggest a sharp shift in U.S. policy toward Russia.” 
 
 McCain told Fox News on Saturday that Tillerson’s relationship with Putin “is a matter of concern to me.” 
 
 “You want to give the president of the United States the benefit of the doubt because the people have spoken,” McCain said. “But Vladi­mir Putin is a thug, a bully and a murderer, and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying.” 
 
 In the 1990s, Tillerson oversaw an Exxon project on Russia’s Sakhalin island and developed a working relationship with Putin. In 2011, Exxon signed an agreement with the state-controlled oil company, Rosneft, to work jointly on oil exploration and development in the Arctic and Siberia. 
 
 After inking the deal in New York, Tillerson and Rosneft chairman and Putin confidant Igor Sechin dined on caviar at the luxury Manhattan restaurant Per Se, according to one account. The next day, they gave oil analysts black pens with the date of the agreement engraved in gold. 
 
 Two years later, the Kremlin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship, an honor reserved for foreigners. 
 
 “I don’t know the man much at all, but let’s put it this way: If you received an award from the Kremlin, [an] Order of Friendship, then we’re gonna have some talkin’,” Graham said. “We’ll have some questions. I don’t want to prejudge the guy, but that’s a bit unnerving.” 
 
 Exxon discovered oil in a well it drilled in the Kara Sea, but the joint partnership was put on ice after Russian intervention in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea led to international economic sanctions. 
 
 As secretary of state, Tillerson, who has been critical of the sanctions, would be in a position to argue for easing them, which could allow Exxon to resume operations. And for a company the size of Exxon, few countries outside of Russia hold sufficient potential to bolster the oil giant’s reserves. In addition to the Arctic, Exxon wants to drill in the deep waters of the Black Sea and search for shale oil in West Siberia. In each case, the company would be providing expertise and technology that Russia lacks. 
 
 “Russia is critical for Exxon,” said Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst for Oppenheimer & Co. 
 
 Robert McNally, president of the consulting firm Rapidan Group and a director for energy on President George W. Bush’s national security council, said, “The closest thing we have to a secretary of state outside government is the CEO of Exxon.” 
 
 Tillerson has spent his entire career at ExxonMobil, joining the company in 1975 with a degree in civil engineering. His career has taken him from Oklahoma and Texas to Yemen and Russia, and as ExxonMobil’s top executive, he has cultivated relationships, meeting regularly with world leaders such as Putin, the Saudi oil minister, and the emir of Qatar. He will retire with a nest egg of about $300 million, including stock options and pension benefits. 
 
 Yet Tillerson’s track record — during a decade in which crude oil prices lurched from less than $30 to nearly $150 a barrel — has been mixed. The company has managed some of the world’s biggest infrastructure projects, often in forbidding locations, but it has spent heavily on share buybacks and has borrowed heavily to maintain both capital spending and dividend payments. 
 
 Wall Street analysts say ExxonMobil overpaid for XTO Energy, a domestic shale gas company, and it has failed to meet the production targets Tillerson himself set. In April, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the company’s gold-plated triple-A credit rating to double-A plus, the first time Exxon had lost its triple-A rating since the advent of color television. 
 
 Tillerson’s nomination is likely to draw strong opposition from environmentalists. The secretary of state takes the lead in international climate talks, meaning that Tillerson could play a role in unwinding U.S. commitments under the recent Paris accord. 
 
 Environmental groups allege that ExxonMobil’s scientists knew about the impact the use of fossil fuels was having on climate change, and that the company suppressed internal research instead of sharing it with investors and the public. 
 
 The New York and Massachusetts attorneys general have issued broad subpoenas to ascertain whether ExxonMobil’s failure to disclose that information violated Securities and Exchange Commission requirements. ExxonMobil has fought back in federal court in Texas. 
 
 “Covering up climate science and deceiving investors qualifies you for federal investigation, not federal office,” May Boeve, executive director of the climate group 350.org, said in a statement. 
 
 When Tillerson took the helm at ExxonMobil a decade ago, he was seen as moderating the company’s position on climate change. Whereas his predecessor opposed any action on climate change, Tillerson said in 2009 that he favored a carbon tax and proposed an initial price “somewhere north of $20” a ton. And he reduced ExxonMobil’s own emissions. 
 
 Tillerson has acknowledged that humans cause climate change, and under his leadership, ExxonMobil curtailed funding for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, whose energy and climate expert Myron Ebell played down the extent of climate change. Ebell heads Trump’s transition team on environmental issues. 
 
 Yet Tillerson has insisted that oil use is essential. He chaired the American Petroleum Institute and once told Fortune magazine, “To say that you’re addicted to oil and natural gas seems to me to say you’re addicted to economic growth.” 
 
 ExxonMobil has important relationships throughout the Middle East. It relies on Saudi Arabia for oil supplies and is a partner in refinery projects. It has enormous projects in liquefied natural gas export in Qatar. It has also managed to carry out exploration and production ventures in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq and in southern Iraq, transcending rivalries between Baghdad and the Kurds. 
 
 But under Tillerson, ExxonMobil has walked away from other countries. It left Venezuela after contract disputes with the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, and it ended its onshore operations in Nigeria, where local insurgents sabotaged infrastructure. 
 
 Tillerson was born in Wichita Falls, Tex., the son of a Boy Scout administrator. He still lists the rank of Eagle Scout on his résumé and has remained active in the organization. In 2012, he was instrumental in pushing the Boy Scouts board to admit openly gay youths. 
 
 The ExxonMobil chief also chaired the $50 million campaign to restore Washington’s Ford’s Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. 
 
 Tillerson has been a major donor to the GOP and its candidates, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush during this year’s presidential primaries, federal campaign finance filings show. Although there appears to be no record of Tillerson’s giving to Trump’s campaign, his wife, Renda, contributed $2,700 to Trump in September, filings show. 
 
 Within the oil industry, ExxonMobil has been regarded as the most button-downed company, conservative and sometimes arrogant. But even Tillerson’s critics admire his leadership abilities. 
 
 “Rex is a very, very, very honorable man,” Gheit said. “He is smart, levelheaded. He has tremendous resolve and very strong character.” 
 
 Karoun Demirjian, Matea Gold and Carol Morello contributed to this report. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Who is Rex Tillerson, the ExxonMobil chairman who may become secretary of state? 
 
 Trump, CIA on a collision course over Russia’s role in U.S. election 
 
 From enemies to potential allies: How the Trump-Romney divide began to heal
– The fallout from Friday night's "bombshell" report from the CIA that Russian hackers directly interfered with the US election in order to get Donald Trump elected continued Saturday. Here are seven things you need to know: With Trump criticizing the CIA—rather than Russia—in the wake of the report, the New York Times reports he's opening an "extraordinary breach" between himself and the national security establishment he's bound to need during his presidency. While mostly at a loss, Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast has a few pieces of advice for what Democrats should do next: "Demand the release of the information. Demand a real investigation...The media needs to get the message that conservatives aren’t the only people who get pissed off." In a "no-win situation for the GOP," some Republicans in Congress want to investigate Russia's involvement in the election against Trump's wishes. The Washington Post has four ways they could take on Russia, with or without the president-elect. Harry Reid is calling for the resignation of FBI director James Comey, who he compares to J. Edgar Hoover and accuses of covering up information about Russia's activities to get Trump elected, the Guardian reports. Pamela Kruger at Fortune points out that Trump did Saturday what he normally does when faced with a major negative story: spend the morning tweeting about something completely unrelated; Celebrity Apprentice, in this case. Worried Trump will ignore Russian threats to US democracy when he takes office, Quartz reports President Obama is "racing against the clock" to get a full report on Russia's involvement in US affairs before he steps down in six weeks. Meanwhile, John McCain says the close relationship between Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson—Trump's likely secretary of state—and Vladimir Putin "a matter of concern," the Hill reports. With Democrats needing only three GOP senators to vote against Tillerson, a McCain aide says a confirmation is unlikely. "Putin is a thug, bully, and a murderer, and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying," McCain says.