President-elect Donald Trump defended Rex Tillerson as his reported pick for Secretary of State during an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, calling him a "world-class player."
Wallace's interview with Trump airs Sunday morning on Fox broadcast affiliates and will be repeated at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST on Fox News Channel.
The interview delves into Trump's cabinet selections, and Wallace travels with the President-elect on "Trump Force One."
The preview of the interview, though, only covers Trump's comments on Tillerson, presumably videotaped before NBC announced late Saturday that Trump picked him.
"Why does a business executive make sense as the chief diplomat?" Wallace asks Trump of Tillerson.
"Well, in his case he’s much more than a business executive. He’s a world-class player. He's in charge of the largest company in the world," Trump said of the ExxonMobil CEO.
"He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size than its next biggest competitor in the world. It's been a company that's been unbelievably managed, and to me, a great advantage is that he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals for the company — not for himself, for the company."
Tillerson met with Trump Saturday but Trump spokesman Jason Miller said no official announcement on the secretary of state pick is expected until "next week at the earliest."
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