Journalists took to social media Wednesday to claim former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson lied to Congress about lobbying on Russian economic sanctions.
CNN\u2019s Eric Bradner tweeted Tillerson \u201c[l]ied about Exxon lobbying\u201d to Senate lawmakers during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. Freelance writer Glenn Fleishman asked if Tillerson committed \u201cperjury when he lied about lobbying on sanctions?\u201d
Tillerson just denied that Exxon lobbied against sanctions
That\u2019s false https:\/\/t.co\/sATEMZeHp5 pic.twitter.com\/O2IXAA83J1
\u2014 Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 11, 2017
Even members of the Senate foreign relations committee were skeptical. Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said \u201cI think you called me at the time,\u201d when Tillerson denied personally lobbying against sanctions. Though Corker did agree with Tillerson\u2019s characterization of Exxon\u2019s lobbying.
So, did Tillerson actually \u201clie\u201d when he denied lobbying against 2014 U. S. sanctions against Russia?
Probably not and here\u2019s why.
Tillerson, who President-elect Donald Trump nominated to be secretary of state, has been criticized for his business ties to Russia while heading Exxon. Indeed, Exxon has billions invested in Russia \u2014 as do other oil majors, like BP and France\u2019s Total.
Exxon cut a $3.2 billion oil exploration deal with Rosneft, run by Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, in Summer 2014. Sanctions against Russia for annexing Crimea and causing unrest in Ukraine could have cost the company billions of dollars.
So, it\u2019s not unreasonable to assume Exxon\u2019s lobbying was against, or at least to modify, those sanctions. Tillerson, in fact, did not deny lobbying on Russian sanctions \u2014 only that the company lobbied \u201cagainst\u201d sanctions.
Tillerson told lawmakers he \u201cnever lobbied against the sanctions and that ExxonMobil never lobbied against the sanctions.\u201d
Tillerson said Exxon\u2019s lobbying activity surrounding sanctions legislation in Congress were informational, and more about learning \u201chow the sanctions were going to be constructed.\u201d Exxon did lobby the Obama administration, but Tillerson said that was to avoid putting \u201clives at risk and the environment at risk\u201d by abandoning an oil rig operating in the Arctic.
\u201cWhen the sanctions went into place, because of the way the sanctions were written, they took immediate effect,\u201d Tillerson said. \u201cThere was no grace period, there was no grandfathering period, and I engaged immediately with the State Department, with the Treasury and with OFAC to explain to them there were significant risks to people and the environment if\u201d sanctions went into effect instantaneously.
Eventually, the Obama administration granted Exxon a temporary license \u201cso we could get all the people out of the country, get all the equipment that was subject to sanctions out of the country, including rig out of the country,\u201d Tillerson said.
\u201cThat was really my direct engagement, was really dealing with an effect of the sanctions, so, again, the characterization ExxonMobil lobbied against the sanctions is just not accurate,\u201d Tillerson said.
\u201cThis is hard to disprove \u2014 but very, very hard to believe,\u201d wrote Vox\u2019s Zack Beauchamp before admitting \u201cwhile we will need more reporting to show that Tillerson lied, conclusively, there\u2019s a lot of evidence to suggest that he did.\u201d
Politico reported Exxon sometimes used the U. S.-Russia Business Council to lobby Congress. Tillerson is a board member at the council. Exxon, however, told Politico any lobbying effort \u201csought and provided information\u201d of company operations in Russia and Ukraine. Those efforts were disclosed in lobbying reports.
WSJ reporter Byron Tau tweeted \u201c14 lobbying reports where Exxon lists lobbying on sanctions between 2006 and 2014, despite what Tillerson just said under oath.\u201d
But Tillerson didn\u2019t say Exxon never lobbied on sanctions, and those lobbying disclosure forms don\u2019t say what position the company took on specific issues.
WSJ reported Monday that Exxon lobbied against sanctions \u2014 but for reasons that line up with Tillerson\u2019s explanation to Congress.
\u201cMr. Tillerson and others told senior officials that because of the complexity of the Arctic project Exxon couldn\u2019t immediately pull out without significant safety and environmental risks,\u201d WSJ reported.
\u201cThe CEO also said U. S. sanctions applied to an existing project, unlike European sanctions, which exempted developments already under way, people familiar with the matter said.\u201d
WSJ\u2019s report suggests Exxon lobbied to secure their assets from sanctions. The paper sees this as lobbying \u201cagainst\u201d sanctions, but Exxon doesn\u2019t.
Maybe asking Tillerson if Exxon opposed sanctions on Russia is the wrong question. The right question may be what exactly Exxon lobbied to change about the sanctions.
WSJ\u2019s Tau put it another way. He said the more relevant issue is whether Exxon \u201clobbied to weaken sanctions or lobbied against **stronger** sanctions.\u201d
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