(Angela Weiss/AFP)
A recent Politico report suggesting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) would struggle to survive as Donald Trump’s secretary of state has been met with skepticism from journalist Marc Caputo, who dismissed the claims as unfounded.
Caputo, an Axios reporter, discussed the report during a CNN appearance on Wednesday, where he emphasized Rubio’s strong relationship with Trump and his qualifications for the role.
“My eyes almost rolled into the back of my head,” Caputo said. “I can’t say how much B.S. that is. Remember, Donald Trump chose Marco Rubio to be secretary of state. He knows who Rubio is and what Rubio believes, and the differences between these two guys on foreign policy is very, very thin.”
Caputo elaborated on Rubio’s influence during Trump’s first term as president. “When Marco Rubio was a United States senator and Donald Trump was president, the first time as Trump 45, Rubio was essentially the de facto secretary of state for the western hemisphere.
He was a constant Trump adviser. Trump bounced ideas off of him, took his advice, listened to him. In fact, as I’ve reported previously, at one point Trump was musing and was being urged to invade or have a military action in Venezuela. Who talked him out of it? Marco Rubio did.”
Rubio’s confirmation is expected to face little resistance, particularly in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, where he previously served. Trump’s controversial pick for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, also appears to have a clear path through the Senate Armed Services Committee. However, Caputo noted that not all of Trump’s nominees are receiving such widespread support.
“In Trumpworld, when you ask them, how confident are you about something on a scale of one to 100 percent, they’re always going to say 110 percent,” Caputo said. “Now, that said, they will acknowledge that of all of the nominees, the one who is encountering and could encounter the most turbulence is [intelligence director nominee] Tulsi Gabbard.”
Caputo explained that Gabbard has struggled in meetings with Republican senators to articulate her stance on surveillance, raising doubts about her preparedness for the role of national intelligence director. While some senators have since expressed satisfaction with her responses, initial hesitations have created a challenging confirmation process.
Caputo concluded, “In the end, though, the Republican Senate understands that Donald Trump is a Republican, and most of them believe he should get his picks. The one exception to that was Matt Gaetz. If you got rid of my Matt Gaetz pick, you need to pick everybody else.”
