The Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Tammy Bruce quickly gathered herself when she was reached by the news during a briefing that her highest boss is also taking over as security advisor in the White House. The solution is temporary, according to Trump's post on his own social media platform Truth:
"Together we will fight tirelessly to make the world and the USA safe again", the president writes about Rubio, partly in capital letters.
The Inner Circle
The appointment confirms that the former Florida Senator Marco Rubio is part of Trump's innermost and most loyal circle.
The relationship is said to have matured over time. Last year, Rubio was mentioned in discussions about who would become Trump's vice presidential candidate. When the election eventually fell on JD Vance, he continued to campaign for the future president. Trump is said to have particularly appreciated that Spanish-speaking Rubio stood by his side after the controversy when a comedian at a campaign meeting called the island "a piece of trash", notes USA Today.
After becoming Foreign Minister, Rubio has repeatedly defended Trump's doctrine of putting the USA first – and promised that all Foreign Ministry initiatives will make the country safer, or more successful. He has struck a harder tone towards Europe, repeated threats to annex the Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada, and stood up for the methods to achieve ceasefires in Gaza and Ukraine.
The President has engaged everyone you can think of – Ambassador Witkoff, myself, the national security advisor, the Vice President – in the attempt to get the two sides closer to each other so we can create a path to peace, he recently said about the Ukraine talks in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press.
This is something that should be praised.
Small Hands?
Few in the White House now want to remember the debate in 2016 when presidential candidate Rubio teased Trump about his small hands and made insinuations about other anatomy.
Trump, in turn, gave him the epithet "little guy".
Shortly after, the hatchet was buried. Marco Rubio ideologically swung and embraced the Maga ideology. The 53-year-old, whose parents emigrated, was known for years as an anti-communist China and Russia hawk. Now he has taken a more pragmatic stance and praises Trump's efforts to make a "deal" in various areas.
Tina Magnergård Bjers/TT
Facts: Marco Rubio
TT
TT
Born in Miami in 1971, where his parents emigrated from Cuba. Rubio often tells about how his mom and dad juggled multiple jobs – including as bartender and cleaner – to give their children a better future.
Has a law degree from the University of Miami. Republican who engaged early in local politics and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000. Between 2011 and 2025, he represented Florida in the Senate in Washington DC.
Soccer player and Catholic. Married to Jeanette Dousdebes since 1998, the couple has four children.
Rubio's appointment as Donald Trump's Foreign Minister was approved by the Senate with a vote of 99-0.
After taking office, Trump asked him to also take care of the remaining activities of the aid agency USAID, which was essentially dismantled, and the US National Archives (whose chief Trump fired).
When the national security advisor Mike Waltz now leaves, Rubio temporarily takes over his job as well. Waltz is leaving in the light of "Signalgate", where he created a chat group on the app Signal where sensitive information about military attacks was shared and to which a journalist was accidentally invited. Waltz has been nominated for the post of UN ambassador.
