Washington– Minister of State Marco Rubio He commented on peace efforts between Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Hamas and defended the Trump administration’s efforts Increasing military pressure on Venezuela During a rare end-of-year press conference on Friday.
In a free-wheeling meeting that lasted more than an hour with reporters, Rubio also defended radical President Donald Trump Foreign aid reform He detailed the administration’s work to reach a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan in time for the new year.
Rubio’s appearance comes in the State Department briefing room Important meetings regarding Gaza and Russia and Ukraine The conference is scheduled to be held in Miami on Friday and Saturday after a turbulent year in American foreign policy. Rubio has taken on an additional role as national security adviser and has emerged as a strong advocate for Trump’s “America First” priorities on issues ranging from… Visa restrictions To a shake-up in the bureaucracy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“When I was a senator, I represented the state of Florida,” he said. Now, “my job is to carry out the president’s foreign policy — to advise, to counsel, to offer ideas, to provide opportunities and ways in which his foreign policy can be carried out.”
The press conference takes place just hours before Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff meets with senior officials from Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to discuss the next phase of the Republican president’s Gaza ceasefire plan, progress on which has been slow since it was announced in October.
Witkoff and other US officials, including Trump’s son-in-law and informal adviser Jared Kushner, are seeking to implement the Gaza plan by creating a “peace council” that would oversee the area after two years of war and form an international stabilization force to guard the area.
On Saturday, Witkoff, Kushner and Rubio, who will be at his home in Florida for the holidays, are scheduled to meet with Kirill Dmitriev, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Miami to discuss the latest version of the plan proposed by the United States to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“There is no peace agreement unless Ukraine agrees to it,” Rubio said. “But there is no peace agreement unless Russia agrees to it.” “So our job is not to impose anything on anyone. “It’s trying to see if we can get the two sides to a common place.”
The US proposal has gone through several versions with Trump Swinging back and forth Between providing support and encouragement to Ukraine and then apparently sympathizing with Putin’s hard-line positions by pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to territorial concessions. Kiev rejected this concession in exchange for security guarantees aimed at protecting Ukraine from future Russian incursions.
Regarding Venezuela, Rubio has been a prominent supporter of Military operations against ships suspected of drug smuggling Which the Pentagon has targeted in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific since early September. The Trump administration’s actions have increased pressure on leftist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is accused of drug-related terrorism in the United States.
In an interview with NBC News on Friday, Trump said He does not rule out war with Venezuela. But Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly maintained that the current operations are directed at “narco-terrorists” trying to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States. Maduro insists that the real goal of US military operations is to force him from office.
Rubio avoided asking a direct question about whether the United States wants “regime change in 2026” in the South American country.
“We have an illegitimate regime that is cooperating with Iran, cooperating with Hezbollah, cooperating with drug trafficking and terrorist organizations, including not only protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allowing some of them to control territory,” Rubio said.
Rubio’s press conference comes just two days after the Trump administration announced a whopping $11 billion Package of arms sales to TaiwanA move that angered Beijing, which vowed to retake the island by force if necessary.
Trump has oscillated between conciliatory and aggressive messages directed at China since his return to the Oval Office in January, when he imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese imports but at the same time offered to ease trade pressure on Beijing in his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, the Trump administration has consistently criticized China’s increasingly aggressive stance toward Taiwan and its smaller neighbors in disputes over the South China Sea.
Since taking over the State Department, Rubio has moved quickly to implement Trump’s “America First” agenda, helping to dismantle USAID and USAID. – Reducing the size of the diplomatic corps Through a major reorganization. Previous administrations have distributed billions of dollars in foreign aid over the past five decades through the United States Agency for International Development.
Critics said the decision to eliminate USAID and cut spending on foreign aid had changed It costs a life abroadAlthough Rubio and others have denied this, pointing to ongoing relief operations in the Philippines, the Caribbean and elsewhere, along with New global health conventions It is being signed with countries that previously had programs run by USAID.
“We have a limited amount of money that can be allocated to foreign aid and humanitarian aid,” Rubio said. “This must be implemented in a way that advances our national interest.”
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Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.
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