McCain calls for Tillerson to be given team at US State Dept

BERLIN – U.S. Sen. John McCain is urging President Donald Trump to nominate a team of senior officials at the State Department to back up new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke Saturday during an event in Brussels. He pointed to “confusion” over whether Tillerson would attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. He does now plan to be there.

McCain said one aspect of that was that Tillerson “doesn’t have a team there at the State Department. And I think it’s incumbent for the president and the administration to get people nominated and confirmed.”

The Arizona Republican added during a news conference at the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum that he expected “that would be a rapid process.”