lee raymond personally, as a trained chemical engineer and as a very direct and, you know, determined chief executive, decided that he would just say what he thought and use exxonmobil's resources to prosecute his views. most corporate chief executives, even if they had that conviction, would not have acted as aggressively as he did. so that's a factor. the book reflects -- i interviewed raymond, and i asked him at one point, you know, surely you could have handled the costs of modest carbon pricing legislation, right? i mean, look at your cash flow. looked at your profitability. why resist it? >> host: right. >> guest: you've adapted to air pollution regulations, you've adapted to spill regulations, you run -- you pride yourselves on your compliance with regulatory regimes that impose costs on you for making the oil industry sustainable in a political and environmental sense. why not just adapt to these regulations? and, you know, i found his answer not that convincing. he sort of said we thought the costs on the whole economy would be too great, that would break up america's economi

. >> host: one of the current events i was thinking about was going back to lee raymond. shunned alternatives for good reason. this is oil. they don't want to hear about hydrogen for cars, electric cars or what have you, excellent point, the energy report, how people miss the electricity side of energy production. i couldn't help think there are places in the book, alan greenspan is on the hill and -- on solyndra, the solar company the grabbed headlines and failed. if big oil is behind that given their animosity towards renewables and the subsidies renewables require. have you seen evidence of that? >> making it alone. >> host: not a bad loan but fanning the flames of criticism in the long run. >> guest: the american petroleum institute in washington is a spun up communication machine seizes every opportunity and political allies do the same thing. i think the underlying question about alternatives in exxon mobil is they are a corporation that can pursue whatever business strategy they want. the question is as a country do we want to create subsidies and incentives for a

, lee raymond was his predecessor, followed his steps making exxon mobil into not just an oil production company but sort of a multilevel what they call upstream and downstream market or production and he made exxon mobil into a company that's expert at doing things in particular that the russians can't do including drilling for oil in the arctic ocean, which is something they were set to do in partnership with russia right before, within days of the sanctions being imposed on russia, because it went into ukraine. rex tillerson not only as the ambassador has a close relationship with russia with vladimir putin, with business interests in russia, but he's on record as saying that he does not believe sanctions work generally and in specific with respect to russia. so our nato allies, remember, the border states that border russia in europe our nato allies they are very concerned about this, but he has been a very good hand at the head of exxon. >> here's something else that's interesting. according to his latest sec ownership filing tillerson owns more than $233 million of exxon mobil stoc

considering and exploring include the exx exxon ceo, rex tillerson, and the former ceo of exxon, lee raymond. this is notable because trump said he had a great meeting with mitt romney recently and he's routinely praised rudy giuliani. nonetheless, it appears at least on this one he's still undecided about who will be america's diplomat around the world. >> peter, good to see you. thank you so much for joining us. we'll check with you later in the day. peter alexander, in front of trump tower. donald trump also broke a little news in his ohio speech, announcing that retired marine corps general james "mad dog" mattis is his pick for secretary of defense. >> i asked one of the generals, i love the generals, how do you compare to mad dog? sir, he's better than i am. >> nbc's pentagon correspondent hans nichols joins me from the white house. tell us about james "mad dog" mattis and where he got that name from. >> there's the persona of mad dog mattis and the policy. on the persona, he prefers warrior monk. he travels with a volume, a library of some 6,000 volumes. he served in iraq and afghanis

as well as lee raymond, who is a former ceo.what we're seeing, brian, and what i'm told behind the scenes is that this search and the scope of this search is now expanding, and one of the reasons is because you have this big divide within trump world over romney versus rudy giuliani. rudy giuliani, of course, a hardliner but he's been a loyalist all along. mitt romney, someone who has been an antagonist. we had kellyanne conway sort of publicly campaigning against romney saying he's not fit for secretary of state because he was critical of trump when he was a candidate. that is a feeling among a lot of president-elect trump supporters, is how can you serve as secretary of state in this position that is so critical when you have excoriated him throughout the campaign? you're seeing that internal divide really laid bare and the president-elect expanding his choices, wanting to make sure he gets this right. and that is what the transition officials continue to say. he's not bound by a timeline. he wants to get the decision right, b

on it, the current ceo of exxon and former ceo of exxon, the correspondent ceo, rex tellerson, lee raymond for secretary of state. this is an extraordinary departure from the people that donald trump has already been considering, and no word yet whether any of them have been officially dropped out of the running in order to make room for these guys. >> yeah, it's really been an extraordinary process, right? especially the one for secretary of state where it's almost like a reality show, and there's a different contestant who seems to be in the running each and every day. you do have these new candidates largely because there's been opposition for, i think he would have liked to gone with rudy giuliani, but there's controversy around him, mitt romney. it's hard to tell how much of it is real and how much of it is, again, the pageantry part of it. he clearly is enamored with the idea of romney. but there's so much opposition to him. and then there's a lot of folks on the hill pushing for petraeus. so my guess is, with a lot of this stuff, it's very hard to tell which direction trump will go

secretary of state are the current ceo of exxonmobil, rex tillerson, and the former ceo of exxonmobil, lee raymond. really? joining us now on short notice, i should say, because we just got in this news. tom stier is president and founder of nextgen chimt. thank you for your time particularly on short notice. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> i have not been reporting on every name that's been floated for every job including the secretary of state job. but when the current and former ceo of exxonmobil were reported tonight as possibilities, i feel flabbergasted. i wanted to get your response to this news. >> i think this is completely chilling news. the idea that we with turn over the secretary of state to the head of, the head of or the former head of the largest private oil and gas company in the world, a company which is a partner with vladimir putin in russia, which is currently being investigated criminally for misleading the american public about climate change is something that should scare every american. >> how do you see the issue of climate change, the issue of exxonmobil's busines

joe scarborough to be potentially looking at the current ceo of exxon mobile rex tillerson and lee raymond, a former exxon mobile executive. what do you think of those possibilities? >> i won't comment on specific individuals who may or may not be considered. there is -- we want someone to be secretary of state who has a deep knowledge of the international community who understands diplomacy, understands the importance of the state department, our development assistance programs and our national security strategy and will be an advocate for the soft power where america can avoid having to use our men and women to solve our military probl problem. >> finally, the president-elect has been freelancing the calls to foreign leaders or accepting calls from foreign leaders without state department guidance, the white house said he should avail himself of the state department assistance on these things. he did things like talk to pakistan's president, prime minister shareef, i should say. the pakistanis released a statement saying it was over the top, you know, that there is a wonderful country, w

on it, the current ceo of exxon and former ceo of exxon, the correspondent ceo, rex tellerson, lee raymondof state. this is an extraordinary departure from the people that donald trump has already been considering, and no word yet whether any of them have been officially dropped out of the running in order to make room for these guys. >> yeah, it's really been an extraordinary process, right? especially the one for secretary of state where it's almost like a reality show, and there's a different contestant who seems to be in the running each and every day. you do have these new candidates largely because there's been opposition for, i think he would have liked to gone with rudy giuliani, but there's controversy around him, mitt romney. it's hard to tell how much of it is real and how much of it is, again, the pageantry part of it. he clearly is enam ordered ored idea of romney. but there's so much opposition to him. and then there's a lot of folks on the hill pushing for petraeus. so my guess is, with a lot of this stuff, it's very hard to tell which direction trump will go in, because it'

he's surprising us. >> you mentioned lee raymond, i had the privilege of working with lee and rex andf the quality of leadership with that company with lee and now rex. maria: i totally agree. >> rex tillerson brings one thing to government and so does donald trump that we never talk about and that's accountability. accountability and results. maria: yes. >> can we actually get some results? don: that's-- >> that's why i like that donald trump is watching and it's a new sheriff in time. high expectations for sure. we go into 2017 with expectations of repeal and replace obamacare. >> and growth. maria: growth and border security. >> you know this from your track experience, the pace you set better be the pace you keep. >> and better run your last lap the fastest. >> we've got four years of sprinting. this isn't a cross-country race. thank you very much, merry christmas, all of you. maria: thanks so much for a great show. that will do it for us, see you tomorrow. "varney & company" begins right now. stuart, take it away. stuart: yes, it does. maria, thank you very much indeed. the money

secretary of state are the current ceo of exxonmobil, rex tillerson, and the former ceo of exxonmobil, lee raymond. really? joining us now on short notice, i should say, because we just got in this news. tom stier is president and founder of nextgen chimt. thank you for your time particularly on short notice. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> i have not been reporting on every name that's been floated for every job including the secretary of state job. but when the current and former ceo of exxonmobil were reported tonight as possibilities, i feel flabbergasted. i wanted to get your response to this news. >> i think this is completely chilling news. the idea that we with turn over the secretary of state to the head of, the head of or the former head of the largest private oil and gas company in the world, a company which is a partner with vladimir putin in russia, which is currently being investigated criminally for misleading the american public about climate change is something that should scare every american. >> how do you see the issue of climate change, the issue of exxonmobil's busines

considering two additional candidates, exxon mobil ceo rex tillerson and former exxon mobil ceo lee raymond. exxon mobil is the united states' largest oil company. it's currently being investigated by a handful of attorneys gegeneral, followingng revelations that for decades the company covered up its own scientific findings linking rising carbon emissions to dangerous climate change. donaldrurump has expressedisis support for the completion of the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the standing rock sioux, representatives from more than 200 indigenous nations from across the americasas, and thousands s of non-native allie. in a communications s briefing, trump's transition team said his support for the pipeline "has nothing to do with his personal investments." as of 2015, trump had between $500,000 and $1 million invested in the pipeline company, energy transfer partners, although trump spokesperson hope hicks recently claimed trump has sold off his shares in the company. this comes as north dakota governor jack dalrymple continues to back away

options as potential secretaries of state that could include the ceo at exxon, also a former ceo, lee raymond, that's on top of of course bob corker, the senator from tennessee and general david petraeus, his name has gotten a lot of focus, but even the former defense secretary bob gates says that donald trump has been or it careful about military officers serving at a high level and after the announcement of james mattis. that may be one reason he's disinclined to focus on another general coming on board. rudy giuliani's naem, he is a name that's still in the mix. at least to some degree right now. >> peter alexander here for us, hans nichols there in washington. a big thanks to both of you, enjoy the weekend. >>> let's bring in two analysts right now. the former spokesman for ted cruz's campaign. nina former state senator from ohio who endorsed bernie sanders. good to see both of you on a friday morning. >> you too, craig. >> rick, did you hear a president last night or did you hear a fringe candidate with nothing to lose? >> i saw a candidate who's addicted to the crowd. he deserves a vict

follows a chairman who many people in the industry regarded as maybe a notch better as a manager, lee raymonderson hasn't run the business into the ground. what i found interesting was something is telling the president-elect you need to look at a smart business person. you need to broaden your search. and so this name ended up. you were the first person, joe, to put that out, i think. so it tells us that up in trump power they're having a more wide ranging conversation than people might think about what the country needs. >> to be intellectually curious here something that donald trump has never been accused of being, comforted by the fact that this is expanding and we're seeing good names. the names are getting stronger by the week. >> another name would be bob gates. >> he was seen going in there. who knows. that would be incredible. >> talk about somebody whoould be a grand slam. if you had bob gates as secretary -- i'm getting chills here. bob gates as secretary of state and general mattis at defense, that would be your strongest defense/state combination in our lifetime. >> there you go

robert raymond is principal advisor for rrh and is the son of former exxonmobil ceo lee raymond who preceded post. so you've grown up in this industry, i know, all along the way and of course run these funds that are making decisions every day in terms of what companies are best positioned. so let's start there with the bigger picture of oil and these production cuts from opec. do you believe they are going to be consistent, and what does it mean sort of as you look over your portfolio and what you think actually will benefit. >> yeah. so we do think they're going to be relatively consistent. so maybe a little bit of this time it's different. but i think it's important to understand that part of the reason opec is doing what they're doing is because some of the financial strains and stresses inside of the major producing countries in opec. if we go back a few years here shall the funds mental issue within opec became the concept to call on opec, the amount of oil opec is required to produce on a daily basis to meet demand fell to 29 million perils a day. so as a percentage of global market s

and by the way, the thing this morning lee raymond would be fabulous., right now based on the names that are out there, i pray to god they pick bob corker. i know bob corker. he's a fabulous human being. henry kissinger said the most important things in foreign affairs is trust. i think if bob corker and by the same token -- i know rex better than lee. i do know lee. from exxon. these are good people and these people don't need a thing. if they did it, they would do it for the good of the nation. and i hope as i said if he's got these kinds of people in their sight, plus i like what he's done so far. i am concerned about elaine kho chow. is not going to allow a vote on term limits. okay? now, here we're right back to where we started. forget what the american people want. we're going to do what the hell we well please. if he does that and he defies the will of the american people that want term limits, if he's going to defy the american people, he deserves what he gets. it isn't like it's going to rush right through. but if this is what the american peo

raymond are being looked at for state. you've worked with them both of course on the exxon board. thoughts about that? >> wow, that would be a powerful move, i'll tell you, for -- lee'sp there in years but rex is a fantastic person, just in the mid 60s. that would be a powerful move to have someone of that kind of insight. he's been all over the world, knows everyone in the world, and has shown himself to be an extraordinarily effective person. by the way, i think the leadership moves and people he's asking and talking to, the business community is generally encouraged by the fact he's making some moves. i know elaine chao is going to transportation. gives him a link to mitch mcconnell. people are wondering about tom price but gives him a link back to the house. he's making some very interesting moves and i think a lot of it's wait and see. but i think most business people i know and ceos are willing to give him a chance right now. and hope we can keep that economy going. i'm glad to see employment down to 4.6%. >> we are in the midst of a sea change, gentlemen. we always appreciate you helping us work our way through it. fred, bill, good to see you. good weekend. fr