Marco Rubio on a smooth path to Senate confirmation as next secretary of state: NPR

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WHO: Marco Rubio

Nominated for: Minister of Foreign Affairs

You may know him from: Senate and as the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was also a candidate in the 2016 GOP presidential race, where Trump dubbed him “Little Marco,” and Rubio warned voters not to support Trump, saying, “friends don’t let friends vote for crooks.”

More on Rubio:

• He would be the first Latino in the post.
• He is known for hawkish attitudes towards China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.
• His interventionist foreign policy stances put him at odds with Trump, but now says he will follow the president’s lead.

What this role does: The foreign minister is fourth in line after the president and the top cabinet post. The secretary oversees US foreign policy.

What happened during the hearing:

Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio drew bipartisan support among Senate Foreign Relations Committee members at a hearing Wednesday and appears headed for confirmation under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.

Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, was among a long list of Republicans who praised Rubio’s nomination, saying he was convinced he was the person the country would need in the role under Trump. For his part, Rubio kept some exchanges with senators light but took a serious stance as he made his case to become the nation’s chief diplomat who will enforce Trump’s directives.

“The foreign policy of the United States will be determined by the president, and my job is to advise on it and ultimately to execute,” he told the committee. “I think the president has been very clear, and his policies are about making Americans safer, stronger and more prosperous.”

As the Republicans praised Rubio, Democrats also shared support, but also raised concerns about his interventionist foreign policy views that clash with Trump’s. Rubio also faced questions about conflicts of interest between the Trump family business’ ties to foreign countries.

The panel’s top Democrat, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, echoed other members of her party who said Rubio was well qualified for the new role. However, she questioned him about US alliances with NATO and Ukraine. While Rubio said he would follow Trump’s directives, he still repeated his defense of NATO and took aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There’s no question about it, but this war has to end,” Rubio said of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “And I think it should be the official policy of the United States that we want to see it end.”

He added that Putin’s goal now is to have maximum leverage, but Ukraine should also have leverage. He did not rule out that Ukraine might have to make some concessions in the end.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” he said. “This is not going to be easy.”

Rubio also noted that a new cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas was part of several positive developments in the region. Rubio argued to the committee that Israel has faced a number of existential threats and in some ways still does today.

“It is not just about the ceasefire today – although that is very important. The good news is that we have potentially had a dynamic shift in the region that has a historic opportunity,” he said. “If it’s properly structured and purposeful, it changes the dynamic of what can be possible.”

He also emphasized in his witness his concerns that countries such as China are intervention in Latin American countries Panama, Nicaragua and more. His hope to also focus on the Western Hemisphere in a new way is unprecedented and welcomed by many allies.

“I think the 21st century will be defined by what happens between the United States and China,” Rubio said.

He added: “What we cannot ignore is that the current path that we are on now is an unbalanced relationship.”

Rubio also addressed Trump’s recent comments about Greenland and the Panama Canal

On the Panama Canal, Rubio argued that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised issues with its sovereignty and potential threats.

“In a time of conflict, China can use its presence on both ends of the Channel as a choke point against the United States,” he said. Trump has proposed that the United States take control of the Panama Canal.

He also added that Greenland remains strategically important to the US and the West due to its geographical location and access to minerals. And as more navigable space opens up in the Arctic, it could dramatically reduce key transit times. Trump has expressed interest in the US buying the island – which Denmark’s prime minister, who oversees the self-governing territory, has made clear is not for sale.

“We need to have partners along the Arctic region who will join us in ensuring that the Arctic region is open to the free and flow of navigation when these passages open up, because global trade in many ways will be infused by it, “Rubio said.

The hearing was not an entirely smooth encounter for Rubio. At first it was marked by loud disruptions from several protesters who stood and shouted in English and Spanish. One called Rubio “little Marco” and another said in Spanish that children were being murdered in Latin American countries. All of the protesters were quickly forcibly removed from the room by the US Capitol Police.

“I’m getting bilingual protesters!” Rubio joked at one point.

Rubio’s confirmation process may be among the easiest of Trump’s picks

A longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio is well known to lawmakers asks him. The committee scheduled its next meeting to take up the Rubio confirmation on the day Trump is sworn in and raise the potential for him to be named to the role on the new administration’s first day.

If confirmed, the 53-year-old Florida Republican would be the first Latino to serve as America’s top diplomat. Born in Florida, the son of Cuban immigrants was first elected senator in 2010 and earned a reputation as a hawkish voice on China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.

Rubio and Trump launched a series of vicious attacks against each other in the 2016 presidential election. That year, Rubio told voters not to support Trump as a presidential candidate, saying “friends don’t let friends vote for scammers.” Trump dismissed him as “Little Marco.” But behind the scenes during the election, the two were becoming unlikely allies. In 2024, Rubio became a fixture on the campaign trail during Trump’s re-election. He was in the running to be his vice president before former Senator JD Vance was chosen instead.

Rubio may still face plenty of challenges, including tough questions about why he voted against aid to Ukraine last year, despite his past stances on Russia’s war there.

China has imposed sanctions on Rubio, which could make it difficult to travel there. Rubio has accused China of a “grotesque genocidal campaign” against Uyghur Muslims, and he wrote legislation banning imports from the Xinjiang region. This human rights advocacy has put him on edge with Trump ally Elon Musk, who opened a Tesla dealership in Xinjiang shortly after Rubio’s Uighur forced labor law signed into law in 2021.

Rubio also faced death threats after speaking out against the Venezuelan regime in 2017.

The outgoing Biden administration has made it a priority to build alliances in Asia to counter China’s rise. At the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken created “China House,” an office that draws on experts from across the U.S. government to focus on China. It may be an office that Rubio wants to keep.

The secretary of state oversees US foreign policy, but Trump has already cut some of the job as America’s top diplomat by contacting several special envoys for Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon. He has also named a longtime foreign policy adviser, Richard Grenell, who had been in the running for secretary of state, to serve as envoy for “special missions.” “Ric will be working in some of the hottest places around the world, including Venezuela and North Korea,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, announcing the appointment.