Rex Tillerson adopts tough line on Moscow

WASHINGTON -- Barraged by questions about Russia, Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state promised a far more muscular approach toward the Kremlin on Wednesday, abandoning much of the president-elect's emphasis on improving ties between the Cold War foes. Instead, Rex Tillerson suggested the outgoing Obama administration responded too softly to Moscow's takeover of Ukrainian territory.

The surprising shift in tone by Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil CEO and Russian "Order of Friendship" recipient, reflected the difficulty Trump will have in convincing Democrats and Republicans to broach a broad rapprochement with President Vladimir Putin's government. Calling Russia a "danger" to the United States, Tillerson said he would keep U.S. sanctions in place and consider new penalties related to Russian meddling in the presidential election.

Although he said he hadn't read last week's classified assessment by the U.S. intelligence community, Tillerson said it was a "fair assumption" that Putin would have ordered the operation that purportedly included hacking, propaganda and internet trolls to harm Hillary Clinton's candidacy and advance Trump's. But in a puzzling revelation, the oil man conceded he hadn't yet talked with Trump about a Russia policy.