The Latest: Trump’s favourite for State an accomplished exec

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Latest developments on Donald Trump’s transition to the presidency (all times local):

10 p.m.

President-elect Donald Trump has found an accomplished American executive in Rex Tillerson, a supporter of free trade, international law and an expansive U.S. presence in the Middle East.

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Tillerson came to Exxon Mobile Corp. straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975 and never left. He came up in the rough-and-tumble world of oil production, holding posts in the company’s central United States, Yemen and Russian operations.

Under Tillerson’s leadership, oil prices broke records and strong profits helped make Exxon the most valuable public company in the world. It has a security force totalling thousands of employees, direct channels with governments worldwide and a strong aversion to American sanctions or limitations on where it could operate.

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4:30 p.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is moving closer to nominating Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, following a private meeting with the business leader.

That’s according to several people who have spoken with Trump and his transition team.

Trump has privately signalled to associates that he plans to tap Tillerson for the powerful Cabinet post, but had not formally offered him the job as of Saturday afternoon. Some advisers worry that Tillerson’s ties to Russia would lead to a contentious Senate confirmation hearing and keep alive questions about Trump’s own relationship with Moscow.

The people who have spoken with Trump and his transition team insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly disclose the internal deliberations.

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3:50 p.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is being greeted with cheers at the annual Army-Navy football game in Baltimore.

The incoming president waved to the crowd from outside a private box as he arrived at the stadium during the first quarter of the storied rivalry.

Trump was inside the box of a West Point graduate and planned to spend the second half in the box of retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North.

He was joined by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and top adviser Steve Bannon.

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1:20 p.m.

Donald Trump has met with Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as the incoming president considers his options for secretary of state.

Tillerson is under serious consideration to lead the State Department and also met with Trump earlier this week. Trump is also considering former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and former United Nations ambassador John Bolton.

Trump’s transition team said Friday that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had withdrawn from consideration for the post.

Tillerson’s meeting Saturday was described by a person familiar with the private gathering who was not authorized to discuss it.

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11:20 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump will spend the first half of Saturday’s Army-Navy game in the box of David Urban, a West Point graduate and Republican adviser and the second half in the box of retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a graduate of Annapolis.

A Trump transition official says Trump will not formally switch sides at halftime in the traditional symbol of commander-in-chief neutrality because he is not the sitting president. The team member spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the president-elect’s plans.

Trump is expected to join several advisers, including incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser Steve Bannon.

Trump is a 1964 graduate of the New York Military Academy near West Point.

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10:40 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump has deleted and reissued a tweet after receiving criticism on social media for bad spelling.

Trump put out a fresh tweet accusing CNN of reporting “ridiculous” fake news, arguing he won’t let his television show conflict with his presidency. Hours earlier, he had misspelled the word as “rediculous.”

“Reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are ridiculous & untrue — FAKE NEWS!” he wrote in the corrected tweet.

The latest tweet drew some commentary about the president-elect, who has flubbed words on previous occasions on Twitter.

“Are they still rediculous, too as per the original tweet?” tweeted @JoelNihlean in response.

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6:45 a.m.

Donald Trump is tweeting about television again — this time accusing CNN of reporting “rediculous” fake news and asserting that he won’t let his television show conflict with his presidency.

Trump’s Saturday morning tweets follow an announcement by Mark Burnett, the creator of “The Apprentice,” that the president-elect remains an executive producer on the show.

Trump’s spokeswoman, Kellyanne Conway, said on CNN Friday that Trump’s ties to his reality show are being reviewed for potential conflicts of interest.

At 6:28 a.m., the president-elect tweeted that he has “NOTHING to do with The Apprentice except for fact that I conceived it with Mark B & have a big stake in it. Will devote ZERO TIME!”

Ten minutes later, he tweeted again, saying that “reports by @CNN that I will be working on The Apprentice during my Presidency, even part time, are rediculous & untrue – FAKE NEWS!”

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2:50 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is partaking in one the nation’s most storied football rivalries, saluting U.S. troops at the annual Army-Navy game on Saturday as he prepares to enter the White House.

The future commander-in-chief planned to attend the 117th game between the military academies at West Point and Annapolis, which is being held on relatively neutral ground, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.

The appearance caps a week of rolling out Cabinet picks, holding “thank you” rallies in North Carolina, Iowa and Michigan, and trying to cement his incoming Senate majority with Saturday’s runoff election in Louisiana.

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