Marco Rubio sworn in as secretary of state, pledges decisions to make America 'safer' and 'more prosperous'
After taking the oath of office to be sworn in as the nation's 72nd secretary of state, Marco Rubio promised that every action taken by the State Department will be determined by the answers to three questions: "Does it make us stronger? Does it make us safer? And does it make us more prosperous?"
The Senate unanimously confirmed Rubio's appointment to secretary of state Monday evening, making Rubio the first confirmed Cabinet member of the second Trump administration.
Rubio also gave remarks in Spanish, giving thanks to God and his family members both present and not present -- including his parents, who he said came to the United States in 1956 and that the purpose of their lives was that their children could realize dreams that were not possible for them.
Rubio, a Cuban American son of refugees, is the first Hispanic American ever to hold this position.
"It's an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful, best country in the world," he continued in Spanish, thanking President Donald Trump for the opportunity.
Switching back to English, Rubio joked, "I just said I saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico -- that's what I said."
The former senator also echoed themes from Trump's inaugural address and reiterated the president's platform.
"[Trump's] primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States. It will be furthering the national interest of this country," Rubio said.
"We will work hard every second of the day to help him achieve the agenda the American people have given him to achieve," he added.
In addition to thanking his former colleagues, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Idaho Sen. James Risch, Rubio expressed gratitude to his family and emphasized that "the most important job I'll ever have is that of a father and husband."
Rubio told State Department employees later Tuesday that he wanted the department to "be where it belongs -- I want the Department of State to be at the center of how America engages the world."
"There will be changes. But the changes are not meant to be destructive," Rubio added. "They're not meant to be punitive, they're not -- the changes will be because we need to be a 21st century agency that can move, by a cliché that's used by many, at the speed of relevancy. But we need to move faster than we ever have because the world is changing faster."
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning, Rubio spoke with CBS and was asked about Trump's statement that he is "not confident" the ceasefire in Gaza will hold.
"Well, I'm hoping and praying it will hold -- but remember, on Oct. 6 there was a ceasefire in place between Israel and Hamas. Oct. 7 was a violation of that," Rubio said. "So when you're dealing with a terrorist organization that has committed atrocities, motivated by all kinds of evil, I don't think you can go into it very confident that things will hold in the long term.
"We want it to work out. We think there is the broader hope of a peace in the region," he added. "So we're hopeful, but I think we need to be realistic about what we're dealing with here."
Rubio also spoke with ABC's "Good Morning America" and discussed Trump's pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, TikTok and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio sidestepped directly weighing on the pardons, saying his "focus needs to be 100% on how I interact with our counterparts, our adversaries, our potential enemies around the world to keep this country safe, to make it prosperous."
When asked about Trump's campaign pledge to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Day One, Rubio contended the matter is more complex and that negotiations will not be played out in public.
"Look, this is a complex, tragic conflict, one that was started by Vladimir Putin that's inflicted a tremendous amount of damage on Ukraine and also on Russia, I would argue, but also on the stability of Europe," Rubio said. "So the only way to solve these things, we got to get back to pragmatism, but we also get back to seriousness here, and that is the hard work of diplomacy. The U.S. has a role to play here. We've been supportive of Ukraine, but this conflict has to end."
