Pat Buchanan: Denying Tillerson's Confirmation Would Divide Senate

The Senate denying confirmation to secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson would not only be a "real blow" to President-elect Donald Trump, it would create a "rift and a divide" in the GOP, according to political commentator Pat Buchanan.

In an interview Wednesday with "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax TV, Buchanan, former senior adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, said the resultant party division would be the fault of GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both of whom are opposed to the Exxon Mobil CEO because of his ties to Russia.

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"Tillerson to me represents the point of view of Trump who wants to work out some deals with Russia just as Nixon wanted to work out deals with China," Buchanan argued. "I think that Trump is entitled to have his secretary of state he wants and the adviser he wants."

But, he noted, if McCain, Graham and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — who has also been skeptical of the Tillerson pick — all voted against Tillerson in confirmation hearings, "and the Democrats went in lockstep against him, he would go down."

"That would be a real blow to the president-elect and if it were administered by members of his own party, I think there really would be a real rift and a divide in the party and it would be John McCain and I think Lindsey Graham responsible for it," he added.

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