Marco Rubio
US Secretary of State in the second Trump administration.
Profile text here is limited to what the cited stories establish; this is not a biography.
Stories 10
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Foreign Policy
He signed the Russia sanctions law in September and waived it in October, after a phone call with Putin about diesel
On October 9, 2026 Trump agreed with Putin by phone to let Russian diesel back into world markets; a week later he waived the core of the Lindsey Graham sanctions act he had signed 28 days earlier, as Russia offered nothing in return.
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Foreign Policy
Give up the Donbas or face 'a very bad thing': the 2026 pressure campaign on Kyiv while Moscow gives up nothing
Through 2026 the administration pressed Ukraine to quit the Donbas it still holds while easing pressure on Moscow; Putin kept bombing Kyiv, and 61 percent of Ukrainians and 76 percent of Americans reject the trade.
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Defense and Security
Operation Epic Fury: a war of choice launched days before a deal, still unfinished eight months and $43.6 billion later
The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, 2026, two days after Oman said a deal was near; eight months on Hormuz is contested, 21 US troops are dead, the bill is $43.6 billion, Iran's uranium is unaccounted for and no deal exists.
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Defense and Security
Seizing a head of state without telling Congress: Operation Absolute Resolve, 75 dead, and a $4.7 billion bill
On January 3, 2026, 200 US special operators and 150 aircraft seized Nicolás Maduro in Caracas; about 75 people died, Congress was told afterward, a secret memo said no law bound the president, and Trump said the US would 'run' Venezuela.
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Defense and Security
More than 200 killed at sea without a trial: the boat strikes, the 'armed conflict' memo and the second strike on survivors
Since September 2025 the US military has destroyed more than 60 small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing over 210 people labeled 'unlawful combatants' without public evidence; survivors of the first strike were killed by a second.
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Foreign Policy
Red carpet in Anchorage, Kremlin talking points in the peace plan: how Russia's terms became the US position
Trump hosted Putin on US soil in August 2025 with no deal and no ceasefire; by November a 28-point US plan asked Ukraine to give up Donetsk, cap its army and forgo NATO, and leaked calls showed the US envoy coaching the Kremlin.
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Foreign Policy
Tariffs on allies for defending Denmark: how the Greenland crisis and the trade war broke Europe's trust in America
In January 2026 Trump put a 10 percent tariff on eight allies for backing Denmark over Greenland until markets fell; by spring 76 percent of Germans called the US untrustworthy and a Pew median of 85 percent of Europeans disapproved.
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Foreign Policy
The Oval Office blow-up, then the switch-off: how the US cut weapons and intelligence to Ukraine for a week
After the February 28, 2025 Oval Office clash, the Trump administration paused weapons deliveries and intelligence sharing with Ukraine; both resumed on March 11 only after Kyiv accepted a US ceasefire proposal and a minerals deal.
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Foreign Policy
'Where's my favorite dictator?': a sourced catalog of Trump's affection for strongmen
From 'we fell in love' with Kim Jong Un to 'genius' for Putin, 'my favorite dictator' for el-Sisi, campaigning for Orbán, a state dinner for Xi and shutting down a Khashoggi question for MBS, the record spans both terms.
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Foreign Policy
Helsinki to St Petersburg: the documented record of Trump siding with Putin
From taking Putin's word over US intelligence in Helsinki in 2018, to calling the 2022 invasion 'genius,' to nine envoy meetings and a diesel deal in 2026, the record of Trump's deference to Putin is long, public and bipartisan-documented.