Trump pick Tillerson: 'Fair assumption' Putin behind hacks

It is a "fair assumption" that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind US election hacks, secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson has said. The former CEO of Exxon Mobil told his Senate confirmation hearing the intelligence report on Russian tampering "clearly is troubling". His comments came after Senator Marco Rubio pressed Mr Tillerson to admit Mr Putin's role in the cyber-breach. Mr Tillerson's reported good ties with Mr Putin have alarmed some in the US. The 64-year-old former corporate titan, who has never worked in government, faced tough questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. In a heated exchange, Mr Rubio grilled him on whether intelligence reports about Russia's involvement in hacks of the US Democratic party were accurate and if Mr Putin had directed the attacks. Mr Tillerson said he had no inside information on the detailed intelligence about Russia's hacking, but he had read the declassi...