WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Secretary of State was hopeful but clear about the challenges facing the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts and defended during a marathon end-of-year news conference Friday.
In a freewheeling exchange with reporters running more than two hours, Rubio offered no predictions for timing or success on any of those three issues. He also said he was proud of President Donald Trump’s radical and that the administration was working to reach a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan in time for the new year.
Rubio鈥檚 rare and lengthy appearance in the State Department briefing room came as and are being held in Miami on Friday and Saturday after a tumultuous year in U.S. foreign policy. Rubio has assumed the additional role of national security adviser and emerged as a staunch defender of Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica First鈥� priorities on issues ranging from to a shakeup of the State Department bureaucracy.
Talks on Ukraine and Gaza are planned
Rubio spoke about peace efforts as national security officials from Britain, France and Germany were taking part in talks in Florida with Ukraine鈥檚 lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the latest iteration of Trump鈥檚 Ukraine-Russia peace proposal.
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Witkoff and Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, also would see Egyptian, Turkish and Qatari officials Friday for talks on how to get to the next phase of Trump’s plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Progress on Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan has moved slowly since it was announced in October. U.S. officials have been pushing to get the plan implemented by setting up a 鈥淏oard of Peace鈥� that would oversee the territory after two years of war and create an international stabilization force that would police the area.
鈥淚 think we owe them a few more answers before we get there,鈥� Rubio said when asked about contributions to the stabilization force. After establishing the Board of Peace and a Palestinian technocratic group to govern Gaza, 鈥渢hat will allow us to firm up the stabilization force, including how it鈥檚 going to be paid for, what the rules of engagement are, what their role will be in demilitarization.鈥�
In a whirlwind of diplomacy, Witkoff and Kushner are also set to meet Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 adviser Kirill Dmitriev in Miami, officials said. Rubio, who will be at his home in Florida for the holidays, said he would probably attend the meeting.
But he said there would be no peace deal unless both Ukraine and Russia can agree to the terms, making it impossible for the U.S. to force a deal on anyone. Instead, the U.S. is trying to “figure out if we can nudge both sides to a common place.鈥�
鈥淲e understand that you鈥檙e not going to have a deal unless both sides have to give, and both sides have to get,” Rubio said. “Both sides will have to make concessions if you鈥檙e going to have a deal. You may not have a deal. We may not have a deal. It鈥檚 unfortunate.”
The U.S. proposal has been through numerous versions with Trump between offering support and encouragement for Ukraine and then seemingly sympathizing with Putin’s hard-line stances by pushing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to agree to territorial concessions. Kyiv has rejected that concession in return for security guarantees intended to protect Ukraine from future Russian incursions.
Rubio defends US policy toward Venezuela
On Venezuela, Rubio has been a leading proponent of targeted in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. The actions have ramped up pressure on leftist Venezuelan President Nicol谩s Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S.
Rubio defended Trump鈥檚 prerogatives on Venezuela and said the administration believes 鈥渘othing has happened that requires us to notify Congress or get congressional approval or cross the threshold into war.鈥� He added, 鈥淲e have very strong legal opinions.鈥�
In an NBC 草莓传媒 interview Friday, Trump . Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly maintained that the current operations are directed at 鈥渘arco-terrorists鈥� trying to smuggle deadly drugs into the United States. Maduro has insisted the real purpose is to force him from office.
Rubio sidestepped a direct question about whether the U.S. wants 鈥渞egime change in 2026鈥� in the South American country.
鈥淲e have a regime that鈥檚 illegitimate, that cooperates with Iran, that cooperates with Hezbollah, that cooperates with narco-trafficking and narco-terrorist organizations,鈥� Rubio said, 鈥渋ncluding not just protecting their shipments and allowing them to operate with impunity, but also allows some of them to control territory.鈥�
Other peacemaking efforts at risk
Trump has spoken of wanting to be remembered as a 鈥減eacemaker,鈥� but ceasefires his administration helped craft are already in trouble due to renewed military action between Cambodia and Thailand as well as Rwanda and Congo. Rubio, however, said those deals created a list of commitments that can now be used to push the parties back to peace.
鈥淭hose commitments today are not being kept,鈥� Rubio said of the Thailand-Cambodia conflict, which now threatens to reignite following . 鈥漈he work now is to bring them back to the table.”
In a departure from his predecessors who often limited questions to just four, Rubio responded to queries, including a handful in Spanish, from nearly every reporter seated in the 59-seat briefing room, which has not been used since the State Department ended its twice-weekly press briefings in August.
Since taking over the department, Rubio has moved swiftly to implement Trump’s 鈥淎merica First鈥� agenda, helping dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and through a significant reorganization. Previous administrations have distributed billions of dollars in foreign assistance over the past five decades through USAID.
Critics have said the decision to eliminate USAID and slash foreign aid spending has , although Rubio and others have denied this, pointing to ongoing disaster relief operations in the Philippines, the Caribbean and elsewhere, along with being signed with countries that previously had programs run by USAID.
鈥淲e have a limited amount of money that can be dedicated to foreign aid and humanitarian assistance,” Rubio said. 鈥淎nd that has to be applied in a way that furthers our national interest.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.
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