Marco Rubio is expected to serve as both secretary of State and national security adviser for a minimum of six months, and a number of top advisers to President Donald Trump are interested in making the arrangement permanent, according to three senior White House officials.
His dual role is seen as far more than a short-term solution. “It was not set up to be a stop-gap measure,” one of the officials said.
Rubio did not seek the role, but was asked by Trump and chief of staff Susie Wiles to step in and take “more fulsome control” of the administration’s overall foreign policy apparatus, according to the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the personnel dynamics.
It’s a remarkable elevation for a former 2016 primary rival who exchanged personal attacks with Trump as they battled over the Republican Party’s future and has been viewed with suspicion by some members of the MAGA faithful.
“He’s just a quintessential team player that is willing to accept whatever task is necessary to deliver for the president – including the hard or risky ones,” said the official.
His mandate is to bring stability and “reorient” the National Security Council to make sure that what comes out of it “fully reflects the president’s vision,” said another official. The person added that Rubio is “the perfect person” for this role because “he understands process and foreign policy, and works well with the team – which is a big deal.”
The officials said Rubio’s loyalty is one of his biggest assets. Rubio has set aside many of his own prior stances – including his previously hawkish support for Ukraine – since signing on as Trump’s top diplomat. He has also become a vociferous advocate for Trump’s controversial deportation policies, despite being born to parents who came to the United States from Cuba. The shifts have drawn criticism from some traditional Republicans and other foreign policy professionals who had counted him as an ally.
“You need a team player who is very honest with the president and the senior team – not someone trying to build an empire or wield a knife or drive their own agenda. He is singularly focused on delivering the president’s agenda,” said the first official.
There was some initial concern over the scale and scope of serving as both secretary of State and national security adviser. Henry Kissinger, who held both jobs in the Nixon and Ford administrations, was the only other person to do so. He was known to use the dual position to exert his own influence over the process and become one of the most powerful presidential aides in history.
As senior Trump staffers mulled the idea in recent days, they came to see the synergy between the two roles as an advantage:
“One is the convener, gatherer of facts, and articulator of policy. And the other is the diplomatic lead. I realized they may be more complementary than I thought,” said the second official.
As for anyone else campaigning for the job: “Everyone should stop. We have a sensational person willing to do it,” that person said.
