Additional Coverage:
Washington, D.C. – Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced a grilling from former Senate colleagues Wednesday during his first appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since his confirmation. The hearing, intended to focus on the administration’s foreign policy and budget priorities, quickly turned combative as Democrats pressed Rubio on a range of issues, from State Department reorganization and spending cuts to Middle East policy and the detention of migrants in El Salvador.
A particularly heated exchange took place between Rubio and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). Van Hollen criticized Rubio’s relationship with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and the administration’s handling of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
Rubio responded forcefully, accusing Abrego Garcia of gang affiliation and human trafficking, and suggesting Van Hollen’s April meeting with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador involved the consumption of margaritas. “In the case of El Salvador, absolutely, we deported gang members…including the one you had a margarita with,” Rubio asserted.
Van Hollen vehemently denied the accusation and demanded Rubio retract his “unsubstantiated comments,” suggesting the Secretary of State offer such testimony under oath in a federal court. He stated for the record that neither he nor Abrego Garcia drank from the glasses provided during their meeting, despite their appearance.
The exchange escalated further when Rubio asserted the judiciary branch couldn’t dictate his or the president’s foreign policy decisions. “No judge can tell me how I have to outreach to a foreign partner…
Diplomacy doesn’t work that way,” he retorted. Van Hollen dismissed Rubio’s argument, stating, “You’re just blowing smoke now.”
Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) was forced to intervene as the debate grew increasingly acrimonious. Van Hollen compared the administration’s policies to McCarthy-era witch hunts, accusing them of fostering a “campaign of fear and repression.”
He concluded his questioning by invoking Joseph Welch’s famous rebuke of Senator McCarthy, asking Rubio, “Have you no sense of decency?” Van Hollen then expressed regret for his vote supporting Rubio’s confirmation as Secretary of State.