Donald Trump, the U.S. President-elect, is expected to nominate Senator Marco Rubio (Florida) for the key cabinet position of Secretary of State, as reported by the New York Times on the 11th, citing three sources.
Associates from Trump’s camp have indicated that the President-elect might change his mind at the last minute, but it seems that he has chosen Senator Rubio, who was also a vice-presidential candidate contender, as the next Secretary of State.
Marco Rubio was born into a Cuban immigrant family and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 with the support of the hardline conservative “Tea Party” movement. He is classified as a hawk due to his hardline stance on foreign and security policies concerning countries like China and Iran. He has expressed skepticism towards the denuclearization of North Korea and even mentioned reviewing U.S. troops in South Korea in 2020.
Recently, he also aligned with President-elect Trump on the issue of the Ukraine war, showing support for the idea of ending the war.
Although Senator Rubio clashed with President-elect Trump during the 2016 primary elections, he has been a strong supporter ever since Trump was nominated as the candidate. He was not selected as the vice-presidential nominee in this election, but he was one of the prominent loyalists who actively supported Trump’s campaign.