LIVE VIDEO: Rex Tillerson’s Confirmation Hearing

The hearing starts on 9AM Eastern. The Guardian reports on what to expect:

Rex Tillerson was a surprise pick for secretary of state, having had no previous government experience. He worked for more than 41 years for just one company, ExxonMobil, the last 10 years as chairman and chief executive officer. He emerged as an outside candidate only in the last few days of Donald Trump’s search for someone to fill the role of the country’s top diplomat.

That background, his actions and decisions while running ExxonMobil, will be the focus of scrutiny before the Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday. Earlier this week USA Today reported that a European subsidiary of ExxonMobil did business with Iran, Syria and Sudan when Tillerson was chief executive and when the three countries were under US sanctions as state sponsors of terrorism.

As ExxonMobil CEO, Tillerson also had extensive dealings with Vladimir Putin and one of his top lieutenants, Igor Sechin, a former intelligence officer now chairman of a state-owned oil company, Rosneft. In 2013, the Texas oil man was awarded Russia’s Medal of Friendship. Those links make him vulnerable at a time of deep apprehension among several leading Republicans that a Trump administration will be soft on Moscow.