Marco Rubio expected to join Trump administration as US state secretary
As a large number of appointments were announced by President-elect Donald Trump over the past couple of days, it has been widely reported that Marco Rubio is expected to be appointed as the next U.S. secretary of state.
While no official statement has yet to be made by the Trump campaign, The New York Times reported that “three people familiar with [Trump’s] thinking” said he plans to choose Rubio.
The NYT’s sources indicated that he “could still change his mind at the last minute, but appeared to have settled on Mr. Rubio.”
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has served as a senator for Florida since 2011.
While clashing with Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries, Rubio has expressed support for Trump ever since dropping out of that race and was reportedly being considered as a potential VP choice before JD Vance was selected.
A long-time friend of Israel, Rubio has vocally supported the Jewish state throughout its war in Gaza against the Hamas terrorist organization.
In a viral exchange with a left-wing activist, Rubio defended Israel’s actions, blaming Hamas for the large number of civilian casualties.
“I want them to destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on,” he said. “These people are vicious animals, who did horrifying crimes.”
“And what about the civilians that are being killed every day?” he was asked in the clip.
“I blame Hamas,” Rubio responded. “Hamas should stop hiding behind civilians, putting civilians in the way. Hamas knew that this was gonna lead to this. Hamas has to stop building their military installations under hospitals.”
Regarding the war in Ukraine, Rubio has defended Trump’s position, saying that the war must come to an end with a “negotiated settlement.”
“I’m not on Russia’s side,” Rubio stressed, “but unfortunately the reality of it is that the way the war in Ukraine is going to end is with a negotiated settlement.”
“We hope that when that time comes, there is more leverage on the Ukrainian side than on the Russian side,” he added.
Rubio has also taken a strong stance against the Chinese Communist Party, which he has called the “threat that will define this century.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.