Updated January 15, 2025 at 12:06 PM ET
We're following the confirmation hearings for the incoming Trump administration. See our full politics coverage, and follow NPR's Trump's Terms podcast or sign up for our Politics newsletter to stay up to date.
Who: Marco Rubio
Nominated for: secretary of state
You might know him from: The Senate and as the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was also a candidate in the 2016 GOP presidential primary race, where Trump dubbed him "Little Marco" and Rubio warned voters not to support Trump, saying "friends do not let friends vote for con artists."
More about Rubio:
- He would be the first Latino in the post.
- He is known for hawkish stances on China, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.
- His interventionist foreign policy positions put him at odds with Trump, but now says he'll follow the president's lead.
What does this role do: The secretary of state is fourth in line of succession to the president and the top Cabinet position. The secretary oversees U.S. foreign policy.
What's happening at the hearing:
Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican elected to the Senate in 2010, is drawing bipartisan support before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to move to the next stage of his confirmation process.
Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, lauded Rubio's nomination, saying he was confident he was the person the country will need in this role under President-elect Donald Trump. For his part, Rubio kept a serious stance while making his case for the new role and speaking out against dictatorship regimes, but also, kept several exchanges with senators lighter at times.
"It's a bit surreal to be on this side of the room, but you all look very distinguished." Rubio joked.
While Republicans heaped on major praise for Rubio, Democrats also shared support but simultaneously raised concerns over his interventionist foreign policy views that clash with Trump's positions.
The panel's top Democrat, New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said Rubio was well qualified for the new role. However, she questioned him on the U.S. alliances with NATO and Ukraine, among other issues. While he said as leader of the state department he would follow Trump's directives, he still reiterated his defense of NATO and took aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"There's no doubt about it, but this war has to end," Rubio said. "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 have leverage, too. He didn't rule out that Ukraine may need to make some concessions in the end.
"It's going to be very difficult," he said. "This will not be easy."
Rubio also lauded earlier reports of negotiators closing in on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. He said he believed the Biden and Trump administrations would work side by side during a period of transition to see that hostages will be released "immediately."
He also highlighted in testimony his concerns of countries such as China encroaching on Latin American countries of Panama, Nicaragua and more. His hopes to also focus on the Western Hemisphere in his new role is unprecedented, and many allies say, welcomed.
The hearing was punctuated at the start with disruptions from several protesters who stood and yelled in English and Spanish. One called Rubio "little Marco" and another said in Spanish that children were being murdered in Latin American countries. All the protestors were quickly removed forcibly from the room by U.S. Capitol Police.
"I get bilingual protestors!" Rubio quipped at one point.
Rubio looks to be facing the easiest confirmation path of Trump's nominees so far. A longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he is well-known by the lawmakers questioning him today.
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 gained 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 they should not back Trump as candidate for president, saying "friends do not let friends vote for con artists." Trump dismissed him as "Little Marco." However, behind the scenes during that election, the two were becoming unlikely allies. By 2024, Rubio became a fixture on the campaign trail during Trump's re-election bid. He was in the running to be his vice president before former Sen. J.D. Vance was picked instead.
Rubio may still face tough questions about why he voted against aid to Ukraine last year, despite his previous positions on Russia's war there.
Rubio could face plenty of challenges in the new role. China has imposed sanctions on Rubio, which could make travel there difficult. Rubio has accused China of a "grotesque campaign of genocide" against Uyghur Muslims and he wrote legislation that banned imports from the Xinjiang region. This human rights advocacy has put him at odds with Trump ally Elon Musk, who opened a Tesla dealership in Xinjiang soon after Rubio's Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in 2021. Rubio also faced death threats after he spoke out against the Venezuelan regime in 2017.
The outgoing Biden administration has made it a priority to build up alliances in Asia to counter China's rise. At the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken set up "China House," an office that draws on experts across the U.S. government to focus on China. That may be one office that Rubio will want to keep.
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