Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), President-elect Trump’s pick to head the State Department, is expected to tell Senate colleagues Wednesday morning that the incoming administration will put American interests “above everything else.”
“Putting our core national interests above all else is not isolationism,” Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.
The prepared remarks read, “It is common sense that a foreign policy centered on national interests is not an outdated relic.”
“The post-war world order is not just outdated. It is now a weapon being used against us.” The Florida senator is expected to say this.
Rubio, who is expected to appear at his confirmation hearing, would become the first Latino to serve as secretary of state if confirmed.
So far, senators from both parties have expressed support for the 53-year-old, including public endorsements from Democrats like Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.
The Florida Republican has had a rocky relationship with Trump in the past, with both trading personal blows during the 2016 Republican presidential primary. Since then, the two Republicans have built a better relationship with Rubio supporting the president-elect in the 2024 election and defying his own Republican leader, Ron DeSantis.
According to a Senate speech prepared by Representative Rubio, President Trump secured “clear authority from the voters” by defeating Vice President Harris in November.
“They want a strong America. “I participated in the world,” he plans to say. “But the clear goal is to promote peace abroad and security and prosperity at home.”
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