As senators woke up Saturday with questions on President Donald Trump’s audacious decision to order the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, one of their old colleagues was ready with answers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked the phones in the wee hours of the morning and, in the days since, has played an outsize role in not only formulating the administration’s strategy in Venezuela but explaining it to skeptical lawmakers wary of a protracted military commitment.
That outreach has been to his former Republican colleagues as well as Democrats, including those who see him as a rare Trump official with whom they can maintain a trusted and respectful relationship amid profound policy disputes.
“Although I may disagree with him on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis … he has shown extraordinary competence,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader, said in an interview. “I voted for him in this position; I still have confidence in his abilities.”
Others said they respected his particular expertise on issues in Latin America while also raising doubts about the strategy for Venezuela he is laying out in public and in private briefings — which for now involves propping up interim president Delcy Rodriguez as a de facto U.S. puppet.
“You can talk to Marco about — ‘Tell us about Delcy.’ … He knows all of that, and he can give you a sense of who they are and what they’re up to,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a former colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee.
Kaine complimented Rubio for putting a renewed focus on the Americas, while quickly adding that Trump’s self-proclaimed “Donroe doctrine” is the “wrong kind of attention.”
Rubio returned to his old stomping groups Wednesday as part of a delegation of senior Trump officials who briefed lawmakers on the weekend military operation. There his status as a figure of special consequence who has taken on increasingly significant roles in the administration was on display.
“He’s the one in the center — he’s the one that starts it, no notes,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 2 GOP leader, said in an interview describing the briefing. “To me, he’s a mature, experienced, reliable voice as secretary of State, and — specifically for this part of the world — he knows the issues, he knows the people, and that brings a lot.”
Also on display was Rubio’s membership in the rarefied club of senators and former senators.
He hugged and briefly huddled with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in view of dozens of reporters. A grinning Rubio came up to cameras afterward and joked to reporters, “I’m against everything he said.”
Schumer, who like most Democrats has been a persistent critic of the administration, offered no praise for Rubio but stopped short this week of disavowing his previous support for Rubio’s nomination as secretary. Asked Tuesday if he regretted his vote, the New York Democrat said he was “deeply, deeply disappointed in Marco Rubio even before Venezuela and even more so now.”
Rubio took in stride the criticism from Schumer and other Democrats that he and other Trump administration officials have not fully thought through their strategy.
“I used to be a senator, too — that’s what you always say when it’s the other party,” he told reporters Wednesday. “The bottom line is, we’ve gone into great detail with them about the planning.”
The Senate voted 99-0 hours after Trump’s Jan. 20 swearing-in to confirm Rubio — the only nominee who got through on Day 1.
At the time Democrats praised Rubio as a qualified foreign policy hand. They believed he shared some of their views and would work with them on key global matters such as helping Ukraine defeat Russia and strengthening the NATO alliance.
But since then, Rubio has rankled his former Democratic colleagues at times as he worked with Trump to upend America’s foreign aid infrastructure and back the president’s often erratic policy priorities — ranging from his attempts to force a peace deal in Ukraine to his ongoing push to take over Greenland.
Those tensions have at times spilled out into the public.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Rubio during a committee hearing last year, “I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of State.” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said at the same hearing that she found “Senator Rubio to be a bipartisan pragmatic partner” but “I don’t recognize Secretary Rubio.”
That said, lines of communication have stayed open. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who worked closely with Rubio on the Intelligence Committee, bristled this week at the administration’s decision not to notify top congressional leaders about the Venezuela operation in advance. But he credited Rubio for reaching out soon after.
“My phone had been hacked a few months back, and I had a new number,” Warner said. “So he did try to reach me, but it was after the strikes had started.”
Rubio did manage to reach many of his former Republican colleagues — including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, with whom he had sometimes clashed over national security issues when they served together.
As news of the U.S. raid began to trickle out, Lee posted to X shortly after 3 a.m. with a skeptical note: “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”
Less than two hours later, Lee posted again, saying he had spoken to Rubio: “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack. Thank you, @SecRubio, for keeping me apprised.”
Rubio also reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson soon after the operation launched, as well as chairs and members of key committees.
“He is a gift to America right now,” Johnson said Wednesday.
“All members are comfortable with him — certainly those that served with him, which is just about everyone here,” Barrasso said. He added that Rubio was confirmed unanimously “because people knew him and respected him.”
Democrats who worked with him in the Senate had a more nuanced assessment as they emerged Wednesday from their closed-door briefing with the Trump officials. They raised deep concerns over the administration’s strategy for Venezuela, but they also said they were in no way surprised by Rubio’s role in developing and promoting it given his long opposition to dictatorships in the region.
“Marco has been evangelical on Latin America for a long time, for a long time — I mean, he’s, you know, a pretty classic neocon who believes that America will generally be greeted as liberators,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), another former Foreign Relations colleague. “I didn’t vote for him because I thought he was going to suddenly agree with me on the importance of military restraint overseas.”
Added Kaine, “At the end of the day, he’s going to do what Trump tells him to do.”
Meredith Lee Hill and Daniella Cheslow contributed to this report.
