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Leading up to the confirmation hearings he will chair聽Wednesday for Rex Tillerson, President-elect Trump鈥檚 nominee to be secretary of State, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R) of Tennessee talked at a Monitor-sponsored breakfast for reporters Friday.

Respected on both sides of the aisle as a results-oriented senator and a dealmaker, Senator Corker said he was bullish on Mr. Tillerson鈥檚 potential effectiveness, urged caution in assessing Russian hacking, and lauded the access he receives from the Trump team.聽

Tillerson as secretary of State

Senator Corker offered an optimistic assessment of the odds for Tillerson鈥檚 confirmation and his potential effectiveness as secretary of State if confirmed. Tillerson, former chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil, 鈥渋s going to be overwhelmingly supported鈥� by senators, he said. 聽

As the leader of an enterprise with 70,000 employees, Tillerson had extensive business dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, raising questions for critics about how the nominee would approach United States-Russia relations. Corker quipped that 鈥渙il resides in many places where autocrats exist.鈥� He noted that Senate Democrats like the fact that Tillerson 鈥渋s a scientist and an engineer and believes in science.鈥�

In the end, Corker said, 鈥減eople are going to realize that his views on Russia are not in any way out of the mainstream.鈥�

If confirmed, Tillerson will get 鈥渉uge freedoms to put in place the people that he thinks will serve him best鈥� on his State Department management team, Corker suggests. And given Mr. Trump鈥檚 鈥渙rientation toward business鈥� and the former oil executive鈥檚 extensive experience with leaders outside the US, Corker said Tillerson would be positioned 鈥渢o have a very substantial role in being able to shape鈥� policy.

Russian hacking

Corker said that in seeking to influence the 2016 election by hacking Democratic National Committee computers, the Russians 鈥渉ave done very nefarious things.鈥� 聽

But Corker said that before considering retaliatory steps, 鈥測ou have got to really dig deep鈥� to understand what the Russian鈥檚 intent was and whether it went beyond information gathering to attempting to change the outcome of the election. Corker said he was waiting to read the classified report on Russian hacking which Trump received聽on Friday聽and Congress will get next week.

鈥淢y sense is it鈥檚 going to be very incriminating,鈥� he said. His view is that Russian 鈥渋ntent relative to this issue evolved as the landscape evolved, and they began to see success in what they were doing.鈥�

The senator noted that 鈥渉acking is a tool that is used by sophisticated countries around the world to gain information鈥� including the US. So, he said, 鈥渨hen you put in place sanctions you have got to make sure you are sanctioning a country for doing something that you, yourself, are not鈥� doing.

Access in the Trump administration

Corker also talked about the ready access he has to the incoming Trump administration. Corker was several minutes late arriving at the breakfast since he was on the phone with Jared Kushner, Trump鈥檚 son-in-law and an influential adviser.聽

鈥淚t is an amazingly accessible group of people,鈥� Corker said, noting that he called Trump鈥檚 cell phone on Sunday and the president-elect picked up. Corker said his phone does not transmit a caller ID. 鈥淚 am not saying it has anything to do with me.鈥� Corker said this level of accessibility was 鈥渧ery, very good and highly refreshing.鈥�