Story highlights Robert Weissman says the confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson should put Exxon's actions under a microscope

Tillerson negotiated a deal with Russia that was upended by sanctions over Putin's invasion of Crimea, he notes

Robert Weissman is the president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit organization that champions the interests of citizens before Congress. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Candidate Donald Trump's promise to "end the special interest monopoly" in Washington is already the stuff of "Saturday Night Live" parody. Unfortunately, the nomination of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state is no laughing matter, more a tragedy than comedy in the making. This is precisely why members of the Senate Foreign Services Committee should treat his hearing this week as a public trial rather than a mere formality.

Robert Weissman

The purportedly anti-establishment candidate seems bent on rescuing the progeny of the Standard Oil Trust from existential threats only to risk the very future of the planet.

Tillerson's signature achievement at Exxon was to secure one of the largest deals in Exxon's history, a strategic partnership with Russia's national oil company, Rosneft, that anticipated tens of billions of dollars in investments by both corporations. The 2011 Rosneft deal gave Exxon access to Russia's vast, untapped oil and gas reserves in exchange for some of Exxon's global assets and teaching its new partners to frack. The arrangement also cemented Tillerson's personal relationship with then-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Just two years into the deal, however, Putin's decision to annex Crimea upended the entire project. Sanctions set in place by the United States and the European Union banned American companies like Exxon from doing business with the Russian oil sector. In 2014, Exxon reported the sanctions cost the corporation as much as $1 billion.

Revisiting the sanctions policy is fair game, but one thing's for sure: Decisions shouldn't be made based on what's best for Exxon.