CNN
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It was after midnight in Malaysia when Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialed in to a name between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary Normal Mark Rutte. The subject was Ukraine, and Rubio, on his first journey to Asia as Trump’s high diplomat, had simply met face-to-face along with his Russian counterpart, International Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Rubio relayed to Lavrov that Trump was pissed off and felt that the US had put in depth effort and time into ending the struggle in Ukraine, with little progress from the Russians, in accordance with a senior White Home official aware of the assembly.
In a considerably hopeful readout to reporters, Rubio stated Lavrov had shared “new and completely different” concepts about the way to finish the struggle, although nothing Rubio stated that “ensures a peace.” Requested straight what the administration’s coverage on Ukraine was at that second, Rubio was circumspect, reiterating the significance of partaking either side and leaving the impression that extra discussions with Russia could possibly be on the horizon.
He gave no indication that the president was about to set in movement a serious coverage shift.
Now, becoming a member of the decision on a safe line, Rubio listened as Trump broke the information to Rutte: The US was able to again an effort to provide Ukraine probably billions of {dollars} in additional weapons, made by the US however paid for by NATO.
After months of unsuccessfully attempting to get Russia to conform to a ceasefire, together with quite a few face-to-face conferences between particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump was altering his technique.
Fairly than strolling away from Ukraine, as many thought he may, Trump reengaged. The pivot reverses the temporary pause in weapons shipments that Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth had green-lit every week prior. It additionally demonstrates Rubio’s deft strategy to influencing overseas coverage contained in the administration.
As a senator, Rubio made his identify as a overseas coverage hawk and staunchly championed US help for Ukraine for the reason that earliest days of Russia’s 2022 invasion. However since becoming a member of the administration, he has altered his tone, notably because the administration’s extra isolationist voices took middle stage within the early months.
In interviews with CNN, greater than a dozen folks aware of Rubio’s time within the administration, together with present and former officers, describe him as a refined operator whose stature has risen because the administration’s overseas coverage has tacked towards positions he has lengthy held — even whereas he has not been perceived as overtly pushing in that course.
Up to now month, because the US conducted military strikes on Iran’s nuclear services, pivoted towards militarily supporting Ukraine, and introduced house US hostages from Venezuela in a large-scale prisoner swap, Rubio’s function atop Trump’s nationwide safety equipment has been cemented.
As layoffs coursed through the State Department final week, with the firing of greater than 1,300 civil and overseas service officers, any hopes that Rubio would shield the division from the broader effort to downsize the federal government have been dashed. The restructure was deliberate and executed by Rubio’s high management, although — an indication that he was not less than in a position to fend off the strategy that got here with Elon Musk’s cuts to authorities earlier this yr.
“He’s doing it on his phrases, not on Elon’s,” stated one individual aware of how the cuts unfolded.
Rubio has constructed his relationship with Trump partly by encouraging the president’s instincts as a substitute of difficult them, even when they’ve been at odds with Rubio’s earlier positions, present and former officers say.
“Rubio is sweet at presenting choices and instruments based mostly on the present state of the state of affairs,” stated one individual aware of Rubio’s interactions with Trump, who like others agreed to talk on situation of anonymity. “He is aware of Trump’s end-state, helps it, and doesn’t attempt to management how he will get there. The issue with different senior officers who labored for Trump previously is that they wished to get Trump to a unique final goal.”
Rubio spends important time on the White Home, working at first from a safe facility within the basement in between conferences with Trump through the early months of the administration. Since Trump named him nationwide safety adviser in Could, Rubio now has an workplace within the West Wing.
He’s continued to impress Trump along with his TV interviews, one thing that first drew the president to Rubio, sources stated, and he’s turn into Trump’s de-facto fix-it man on quite a lot of overseas coverage fronts.
“When I’ve an issue, I name up Marco,” Trump instructed a crowd within the Rose Backyard in April. “He will get it solved.”
Alongside the best way Rubio’s amassed important affect, changing into the primary individual since Henry Kissinger to function each secretary of state and nationwide safety adviser. That’s on high of technically operating the Nationwide Archives and the US Company for Worldwide Improvement, earlier than it was dismantled and a few of its roles folded into the State Division earlier this month.
“Marco Rubio has 4 jobs without delay — that’s how a lot confidence President Trump has in him,” Vice President JD Vance instructed CNN in an announcement.
Rubio is shut allies with two of probably the most influential folks within the West Wing — Vance and White Home chief of employees Susie Wiles.
“It’s supremely highly effective,” one supply near the White Home stated of Rubio’s connection to Wiles.
Although they competed for the VP job, Rubio and Vance have since cast an in depth working relationship, which some administration officers partially attribute to the truth that their staffers come from related circles, with many having labored on the Heritage Motion for America, a conservative advocacy group. It’s one cause that the 2 are in a position to lean on one another when there are vital conferences that one among them can’t attend, sources stated.
“Marco is extremely competent and dependable, and he’s additionally one among my closest mates within the administration,” stated Vance.
Regardless of being the one Trump Cupboard nominee to be unanimously confirmed by the Senate, within the early days of the president’s second time period many in Washington puzzled whether or not Rubio was misplaced. He clashed early on with Musk and appeared out of the highlight as Witkoff, Trump’s shut buddy, flew around the globe for talks in Moscow and the Center East.
There was additionally the notorious Oval Workplace assembly with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, when Rubio, slouching into the sofa, appeared uncomfortable as Trump and Vance lit into Zelensky.
Trump and Rubio additionally didn’t begin off with a powerful private relationship. The 2 first got here into one another’s orbit through the 2016 presidential marketing campaign major, creating an adversarial relationship: Rubio referred to as Trump a “con artist,” whereas Trump branded Rubio with one among his extra lasting nicknames — “Little Marco.”
Nonetheless, Rubio was early in his help of Trump in 2024, endorsing him even earlier than the first was underway.
Final summer season, as he weighed his choose for vice chairman, Trump started asking individuals who have been near Rubio whether or not he was truly Cuban, a sign he didn’t know lots in regards to the longtime Florida senator who’s the son of Cuban immigrants.
“He didn’t know a lot about Marco,” stated a supply near each males who was a part of the dialogue. “So far as Trump actually attending to know him, it didn’t occur till after Marco was picked” as secretary of state.
It wasn’t till the 2 males began spending hours collectively daily on the White Home that Trump developed an actual fondness for Rubio, in accordance with two folks aware of their relationship.
“From the start he stayed shut. He went to the White Home lots, and the president was round him lots,” one of many folks stated of Rubio. “They instantly bonded far more than they did earlier than.”
One senior administration official stated Trump and Rubio are each followers of Final Preventing Championship, giving them one thing to attach on exterior of the day-to-day coverage conversations. In June, Rubio attended a UFC occasion in New Jersey with Trump.
Rubio additionally has a powerful affinity for his household, however his spouse is just not wanting to be concerned in politics — a similarity that he shares with Trump, one other supply identified.
“There are few folks within the administration that the president trusts as a lot as Rubio,” a White Home official instructed CNN. “[Trump] empowers Rubio in a means he doesn’t do with quite a lot of different members.”
Rubio has shined compared to a few of his nationwide safety colleagues. Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth has led a chaotic Pentagon and made choices with out White Home sign-off. Mike Waltz, Trump’s first nationwide safety adviser, was ousted in May after inadvertently including a journalist to a sign chat to debate particulars of a US navy strike with high administration officers. And Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard found herself contradicted by Trump over Iran final month.
In the meantime, Rubio has remained targeted on a few of Trump’s key priorities, notably revoking the visas of scholars who protested Israel’s conduct within the Gaza struggle and deporting unlawful migrants. Rubio’s lengthy relationships in South America have paid dividends, notably final week. A big-scale prisoner swap noticed 252 Venezuelans who had been deported from the US and imprisoned in El Salvador despatched again to their house nation in trade for 10 US nationals.
Rubio has lengthy had a relationship with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and spoke with him straight and thru trusted intermediaries to make the swap occur, a number of administration officers stated.
He additionally seems to have saved a self-deprecating nature. Rubio just lately ran right into a buddy on the White Home, who famous he’d come a great distance from his days as Little Marco.
“I’m all the time one step away from being Little Marco once more,” Rubio quipped with a smile, the individual stated.
That doesn’t appear seemingly given latest occasions.
Trump lavished reward on Rubio at a White Home dinner with Senate allies on Friday evening, saying there may be by no means going to be anybody higher on the job than he’s.
“Who would have thought? We fought,” Trump stated of Rubio, reflecting on their 2016 dynamic. “He was so powerful — he was powerful on that debate stand, proper?”
Contained in the State Division, Rubio’s prioritization of Trump comes as no shock to rank-and-file diplomats, who perceive the excessive stakes of serving each as nationwide safety adviser and secretary of state.
Nonetheless some officers who had broadly supported Rubio at the moment are bitter after the State Division’s firings final week, and fear the distribution of data is so tight that they’re unable to contribute whereas inexperienced allies are picked to steer places of work.
“Whenever you are available in with little to no background and this kind of preconceived concept that you recognize all the pieces price realizing, there’s a actual danger in lacking actually vital issues,” stated a former senior State Division official, reflecting on the strategy of some Trump allies who’ve taken on large roles within the division.
They’re additionally involved about how a lot connective tissue between the US and allies around the globe is perhaps misplaced due to the worldwide impression that Trump doesn’t respect profession diplomats.
Senior US diplomats serving as performing ambassadors globally say it may be arduous to get conferences as a result of folks of their nation solely wish to interact with people who’re deemed to be Trump allies.
Rubio has additionally been unavailable at occasions.
Final month, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s high adviser, was in Washington and scheduled to satisfy with Rubio on the State Division. However through the time of the deliberate assembly, Trump scheduled a name with Putin. Rubio’s deputy, Chris Landau, took the Yermak meeting whereas Rubio joined the Putin name.
Earlier this yr, overseas diplomats — together with the brand new Russian ambassador to the US — gathered on the State Division for a reception with Rubio. Landau saved lengthening his introductory remarks because the group waited for Rubio to point out up. He by no means did. He was held up on the White Home.
“By and huge his schedule is White Home-driven, each with conferences the president has and the remainder of the coordinating perform that the NSC has,” stated a senior administration official, including that Rubio does nonetheless have conferences along with his management crew and overseas counterparts on the State Division.
On the White Home, Rubio has trimmed the Nationwide Safety Council to its smallest measurement in a long time.
Having a extra nimble NSC with fewer conferences higher mirrors Trump’s proclivity to maneuver rapidly, administration officers argue. However its small measurement additionally contributed to latest confusion over the pause in weapons to Ukraine, some officers stated.
“That’s the purpose of getting a nationwide safety adviser,” one Trump ally remarked after CNN first reported that Hegseth had failed to tell the White Home of the pause, leading to a public reversal from Trump shortly after it was introduced.
Not one of the sources faulted Rubio particularly, however they did observe the aim of the NSC is to make sure nationwide safety businesses work in sync to hold out the president’s agenda — one thing present and former officers, in addition to diplomats from allied international locations, have instructed CNN doesn’t appear to be taking place broadly.
“If you may get a name into the White Home or into Rubio’s chief of employees, that’s one of the simplest ways to know what’s going on, in any other case it may be fairly difficult,” stated one senior European diplomat.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Trump has “immense belief” in Rubio to execute his overseas coverage imaginative and prescient and that his twin roles enable execution of the president’s priorities “extra effectively throughout the administration.” She particularly pointed to the execution of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear services final month, an operation that Rubio was intimately concerned in.
In public remarks and through his TV interviews, Rubio can assume a combative tone in defending Trump and the insurance policies the administration has pursued.
When Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen just lately instructed Rubio through the secretary’s first look earlier than the Senate International Relations Committee that he regretted voting for him, Rubio rapidly fired again, “Your remorse for voting for me confirms I’m doing an excellent job.”
The day after the US carried out strikes on Iran, Rubio aggressively went after a reporter for urgent him on a US intelligence evaluation that Iran’s supreme chief had not made a political choice to pursue a nuclear weapon.
“I do know that higher than you recognize that, and I do know that that’s not the case,” Rubio stated. “You don’t know what you’re speaking about.”
In personal settings, Rubio is understood to make use of humor to bond with the folks on the opposite facet of the desk.
When members of Trump’s nationwide safety crew briefed Congress on the US navy strikes towards Iran’s nuclear services, it was Rubio who was clearly main the crew, sources aware of the briefing stated.
“It was the Rubio present,” stated one supply who was within the briefing, including that Hegseth appeared to really feel misplaced. “He was joking and jovial, utilizing the pure rapport he has with former colleagues.”
Whereas the categorized briefing is designed so that every speaker solely will get a couple of minutes to current, Rubio, standing reverse his colleagues, cracked a joke that helped heat the room, the place many senators have been inclined to be vital of the rationale for the navy strikes.
Republican Sen. Invoice Cassidy recalled Rubio joking that it’s arduous to inform a senator to talk for only some minutes. “I’m not a senator,” Rubio quipped, in accordance with Cassidy.
Earlier this yr Rubio visited Canada for a G7 assembly of overseas ministers at a very tense second: Trump’s tariffs have been anticipated, world leaders have been nonetheless cautious of what Trump’s presidency may imply for alliances, and Trump had been repeating threats about making Canada America’s 51st state.
The group was looking onto a physique of water when Rubio requested which one it was. His Canadian counterpart named the river and Rubio remarked that it regarded like an ocean and that perhaps it ought to be renamed the Gulf of Canada, stated a supply aware of the matter.
Rubio’s Canadian counterpart didn’t see the humor, however the remainder of overseas ministers broke out into laughter, the supply stated.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Jennifer Hansler, Alayna Treene, Jeremy Herb and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
