Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, appeared before his former U.S. Senate colleagues on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to make his case for representing America on the global stage. However, before discussions could fully begin, Rubio encountered interruptions from protestors—one of whom became the target of his quick wit.
During his opening remarks, Rubio was disrupted by a protestor shouting in Spanish. Referencing recent security threats, Rubio had just stated, “Radical jihadists openly march in the streets and sadly drive vehicles into our people,” alluding to the deadly New Orleans attack on New Year’s Day by an ISIS-inspired military veteran. He criticized America’s long-standing practice of prioritizing global order over national interests, a point that seemed to provoke a woman in the audience. “¡Atención!” she cried, claiming “children were being killed in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela.” Security promptly escorted her out of the room, but not before Rubio paused with a smirk and quipped, “I get bilingual protestors, which I think is cool.”
His comment drew laughter from the room, including Chair Jim Risch (R-ID), who joked, “That’s a first for us, at least in recent times.” The interruptions didn’t stop there, as another female protestor shouted about “human rights” while being removed by security, struggling to finish her demand as she was escorted away. “Sanctions against countries that…” she began, but her voice trailed off amidst the commotion.
The protestors, including members of Code Pink, a group known for disruptive activism, added to the spectacle of the hearing. Some attendees were dressed in keffiyehs, with their hands dyed red to symbolize blood, wearing shirts that read “hands off Iran” and “stop killing the children of Gaza.” The group has a history of high-profile interruptions, including during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Despite the disruptions, Rubio maintained his composure and even managed to inject humor into an otherwise tense moment.
The nomination of Marco Rubio, a staunch defense hawk, for the role of secretary of state presents an intriguing choice for President-elect Trump, who is widely perceived as more domestically focused and less inclined to continue costly overseas conflicts, such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East. As a senator, Rubio consistently advocated for a hardline stance against U.S. adversaries, including China, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia. He leveraged his expertise on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations during his 2016 presidential campaign, which ultimately fell short.
During his remarks at the confirmation hearing, Rubio reaffirmed his call for stricter sanctions on China, citing its record of human rights abuses and describing the communist nation as “the most powerful adversary the U.S. has faced in living memory.” Should he be confirmed, Rubio is expected to press President-elect Trump to adopt a tougher stance in renegotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and to take a harder line against Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela. With Venezuela supplying the U.S. with hundreds of millions of barrels of oil annually, Rubio’s stance could influence future U.S. foreign policy toward the oil-rich nation.
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