Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson selected to lead State Department

The Latest developments on Donald Trump's transition to the presidency (all times local):

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department, dismissing concerns about the businessman's close ties with Russia, two people close to Trump's transition said Monday night.

Trump's decision caps a lengthy process that often played out in public and exposed rifts within his transition team. It also sets Trump up for a potential fight with Congress over confirming Tillerson, who has connections with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump was set to announce Tillerson's nomination Tuesday morning. The people close to his transition team insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the decision ahead of that announcement.

The president-elect had moved toward choosing Tillerson after a meeting Saturday, their second discussion in a week. Trump was said to be drawn to the prospect of having an international businessman serve as the nation's top diplomat.

But the prospect of Tillerson's nomination sparked immediate concern on Capitol Hill. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter that "being a 'friend of Vladimir'" was not an attribute he was seeking in a secretary of state.

In a weekend interview with "Fox News Sunday," Trump pointed to Tillerson's deep relations with Moscow as a selling point. As Exxon Mobil'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.

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Tillerson came to Exxon Mobil Corp. as a production engineer straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and never left. Groomed for an executive position, Tillerson came up in the rough-and-tumble world of oil production, holding posts in the company's central United States, Yemen and Russian operations.

Trump also seriously considered Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, for the job. Romney said late Monday that he was honored to be considered, signaling that he was being passed over for the high-profile Cabinet position.

Trump's decision to consider Romney, who fiercely criticized him during the campaign, was strongly opposed by some members of his transition team, who saw the potential nomination as a betrayal to longtime supporters.

Romney blasted Trump as a "fraud" during the campaign, but was full of praise for the president-elect after they discussed the State Department post over a private dinner in Manhattan. He wrote in a Facebook post Monday night that his discussions with Trump were "enjoyable and enlightening."

"I have very high hopes that the new administration will lead the nation to greater strength, prosperity and peace," Romney wrote.

Sunday updates below.

1:20 p.m.

Donald Trump has met with Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the incoming president considers his options for secretary of state.

Tillerson is under serious consideration to lead the State Department and also met with Trump earlier this week. Trump is also considering former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and former United Nations ambassador John Bolton.

Trump's transition team said Friday that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had withdrawn from consideration for the post.

Tillerson's meeting Saturday was described by a person familiar with the private gathering who was not authorized to discuss it.

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11:20 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump will spend the first half of Saturday's Army-Navy game in the box of David Urban, a West Point graduate and Republican adviser and the second half in the box of retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a graduate of Annapolis.

A Trump transition official says Trump will not formally switch sides at halftime in the traditional symbol of commander-in-chief neutrality because he is not the sitting president. The team member spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the president-elect's plans.

Trump is expected to join several advisers, including incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Steve Bannon.

Trump is a 1964 graduate of the New York Military Academy near West Point.

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10:40 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump has deleted and reissued a tweet after receiving criticism on social media for bad spelling.

Trump put out a fresh tweet accusing CNN of reporting "ridiculous" fake news, arguing he won't let his television show conflict with his presidency. Hours earlier, he had misspelled the word as "rediculous."

"Reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are ridiculous & untrue — FAKE NEWS!" he wrote in the corrected tweet.

The latest tweet drew some commentary about the president-elect, who has flubbed words on previous occasions on Twitter.

"Are they still rediculous, too as per the original tweet?" tweeted @JoelNihlean in response.

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6:45 a.m.

Donald Trump is tweeting about television again — this time accusing CNN of reporting "rediculous" fake news and asserting that he won't let his television show conflict with his presidency.

Trump's Saturday morning tweets follow an announcement by Mark Burnett, the creator of "The Apprentice," that the president-elect remains an executive producer on the show.

Trump's spokeswoman, Kellyanne Conway, said on CNN Friday that Trump's ties to his reality show are being reviewed for potential conflicts of interest.

At 6:28 a.m., the president-elect tweeted that he has "NOTHING to do with The Apprentice except for fact that I conceived it with Mark B & have a big stake in it. Will devote ZERO TIME!"

Ten minutes later, he tweeted again, saying that "reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are rediculous & untrue - FAKE NEWS!"

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2:50 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is partaking in one the nation's most storied football rivalries, saluting U.S. troops at the annual Army-Navy game on Saturday as he prepares to enter the White House.

The future commander-in-chief planned to attend the 117th game between the military academies at West Point and Annapolis, which is being held on relatively neutral ground, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.

The appearance caps a week of rolling out Cabinet picks, holding "thank you" rallies in North Carolina, Iowa and Michigan, and trying to cement his incoming Senate majority with Saturday's runoff election in Louisiana.

Associated Press