A senior Republican senator said Wednesday that he would not support any cabinet nominees that oppose sanctions against Russia.

"I can't imagine I would vote for anybody that believes that we should not sanction Russia given the fact that they did in fact interfere in our election," Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in an interview on CNN.

The remarks were aimed at State Secretary nominee Rex Tillerson, who is the CEO of oil giant Exxon Mobil and known to have close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship in 2013 to commemorate his efforts in "strengthening friendship and cooperation between peoples."

"If somebody wants to be secretary of state, and they hear briefings that I heard, and they don't believe the Russians were involved in our election, interfering in our elections, then I really question their judgement," he said.

The New York Times also reported Wednesday that hacker groups linked to the Russian government have been actively trying to obtain information from the Democratic National Committee since last year.

Thousands of emails containing controversial content from top Democratic Party officials were released to the public during the presidential campaign period, an incident that was thought to have damaged the image of the Democratic Party and tipped the scale in Trump's favor.

U.S. President Barack Obamahas ordered a probe into alleged election-related hackings done by Russia and gained bipartisan backing.

Republican heavyweights including Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also expressed vocal support for the investigation.

However, whether the Russian bashing rhetoric will translate into a no-vote during Tillerson's confirmation hearing is unclear.

The Republicans holds 54 seats in the 100-seat Senate. A simple majority is needed to ratify Tillerson's nomination.