Trump pulls Rubio and defense hawks toward Russia in Ukraine talks

Published



President Donald Trump is testing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Republican lawmakers after a series of statements that show the White House appears to be dismantling key tenets of U.S. foreign policy, siding more with Moscow than Kyiv.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has shifted his approach to the war in Ukraine throughout his time in the Senate. In the months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rubio rallied support for Ukraine among the public, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “a killer” and questioning his mental health in a post on X.

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