Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson has sworn in as the 69th secretary of state of the United States after the Republican-led Senate confirmed his nomination.
Senators voted 56-43 largely along party lines to approve the measure on Wednesday with most Senate Democrats opposing it which angered some Republicans.
Senator Ben Cardin, the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Democrat, said he was afraid that Tillerson would be a “yes man” and would not be able to stop President Donald Trump from practicing a wrong-headed foreign policy.
Republicans had the numbers to push through Tillerson’s nomination, but they still got help from several Democrats who crossed party lines to approve Trump’s choice for America’s top diplomat.
On Wednesday night, Tillerson was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence as the new US secretary of state in the Oval Office of the White House as President Donald Trump looked on.
