When Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman and CEO, appeared before the U.S. Senate for the hearings about his nomination to serve as secretary of state, economic sanctions against Russia dominated the dialogue.

At one point, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, even held aloft Tillerson’s former employer’s lobbying disclosure forms and said cheekily: “I know you weren’t lobbying for the sanctions.”