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It was after midnight in Malaysia when Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialed in to a call between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The topic was Ukraine, and Rubio, on his first trip to Asia as Trump’s top diplomat, had just met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Rubio relayed to Lavrov that Trump was frustrated and felt that the US had put extensive time and effort into ending the war in Ukraine, with little progress from the Russians, according to a senior White House official familiar with the meeting.

In a somewhat hopeful readout to reporters, Rubio said Lavrov had shared “new and different” ideas about how to end the war, though nothing Rubio said that “guarantees a peace.” Asked directly what the administration’s policy on Ukraine was at that moment, Rubio was circumspect, reiterating the importance of engaging both sides and leaving the impression that more discussions with Russia could be on the horizon.

He gave no indication that the president was about to set in motion a major policy shift.

Now, joining the call on a secure line, Rubio listened as Trump broke the news to Rutte: The US was ready to back an effort to give Ukraine potentially billions of dollars in more weapons, made by the US but paid for by NATO.

After months of unsuccessfully trying to get Russia to agree to a ceasefire, including numerous face-to-face meetings between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump was changing his strategy.

Rather than walking away from Ukraine, as many thought he might, Trump reengaged. The pivot reverses the brief pause in weapons shipments that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had green-lit a week prior. It also demonstrates Rubio’s deft approach to influencing foreign policy inside the administration.

As a senator, Rubio made his name as a foreign policy hawk and staunchly championed US support for Ukraine since the earliest days of Russia’s 2022 invasion. But since joining the administration, he has altered his tone, particularly as the administration’s more isolationist voices took center stage in the early months.

In interviews with CNN, more than a dozen people familiar with Rubio’s time in the administration, including current and former officials, describe him as a subtle operator whose stature has risen as the administration’s foreign policy has tacked toward positions he has long held — even while he has not been perceived as overtly pushing in that direction.

In the past month, as the US conducted military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, pivoted toward militarily supporting Ukraine, and brought home US hostages from Venezuela in a large-scale prisoner swap, Rubio’s role atop Trump’s national security apparatus has been cemented.

As layoffs coursed through the State Department last week, with the firing of more than 1,300 civil and foreign service officers, any hopes that Rubio would protect the department from the wider effort to downsize the government were dashed. The restructure was planned and executed by Rubio’s top leadership, though — a sign that he was at least able to fend off the approach that came with Elon Musk’s cuts to government earlier this year.

“He’s doing it on his terms, not on Elon’s,” said one person familiar with how the cuts unfolded.

Rubio has built his relationship with Trump in part by encouraging the president’s instincts instead of challenging them, even if they have been at odds with Rubio’s previous positions, current and former officials say.

“Rubio is good at presenting options and tools based on the current state of the situation,” said one person familiar with Rubio’s interactions with Trump, who like others agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. “He knows Trump’s end-state, supports it, and doesn’t try to control how he gets there. The problem with other senior officials who worked for Trump in the past is that they wanted to get Trump to a different ultimate objective.”

Rubio spends significant time at the White House, working at first from a secure facility in the basement in between meetings with Trump during the early months of the administration. Since Trump named him national security adviser in May, Rubio now has an office in the West Wing.

He’s continued to impress Trump with his TV interviews, something that first drew the president to Rubio, sources said, and he’s become Trump’s de-facto fix-it man on a variety of foreign policy fronts.

“When I have a problem, I call up Marco,” Trump told a crowd in the Rose Garden in April. “He gets it solved.”

Along the way Rubio’s amassed significant influence, becoming the first person since Henry Kissinger to serve as both secretary of state and national security adviser. That’s on top of technically running the National Archives and the US Agency for International Development, before it was dismantled and some of its roles folded into the State Department earlier this month.

“Marco Rubio has four jobs at once — that’s how much confidence President Trump has in him,” Vice President JD Vance told CNN in a statement.

Rubio is close allies with two of the most influential people in the West Wing — Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

“It is supremely powerful,” one source close to the White House said of Rubio’s connection to Wiles.

Though they competed for the VP job, Rubio and Vance have since forged a close working relationship, which some administration officials partially attribute to the fact that their staffers come from similar circles, with many having worked at the Heritage Action for America, a conservative advocacy group. It’s one reason that the two are able to lean on each other when there are important meetings that one of them can’t attend, sources said.

“Marco is incredibly competent and reliable, and he’s also one of my closest friends in the administration,” said Vance.

Despite being the only Trump Cabinet nominee to be unanimously confirmed by the Senate, in the early days of the president’s second term many in Washington wondered whether Rubio was out of place. He clashed early on with Musk and appeared out of the spotlight as Witkoff, Trump’s close friend, flew around the world for talks in Moscow and the Middle East.

There was also the infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, when Rubio, slouching into the couch, appeared uncomfortable as Trump and Vance lit into Zelensky.

Trump and Rubio also didn’t start off with a strong personal relationship. The two first came into each other’s orbit during the 2016 presidential campaign primary, developing an adversarial relationship: Rubio called Trump a “con artist,” while Trump branded Rubio with one of his more lasting nicknames — “Little Marco.”

Still, Rubio was early in his support of Trump in 2024, endorsing him even before the primary was underway.

Last summer, as he weighed his pick for vice president, Trump began asking people who were close to Rubio whether he was actually Cuban, an indication he did not know a lot about the longtime Florida senator who is the son of Cuban immigrants.

“He didn’t know much about Marco,” said a source close to both men who was part of the discussion. “As far as Trump really getting to know him, it didn’t happen until after Marco was picked” as secretary of state.

It wasn’t until the two men started spending hours together every day at the White House that Trump developed a real fondness for Rubio, according to two people familiar with their relationship.

“From the beginning he stayed close. He went to the White House a lot, and the president was around him a lot,” one of the people said of Rubio. “They immediately bonded way more than they did before.”

One senior administration official said Trump and Rubio are both fans of Ultimate Fighting Championship, giving them something to connect on outside of the day-to-day policy conversations. In June, Rubio attended a UFC event in New Jersey with Trump.

Rubio also has a strong affinity for his family, but his wife is not eager to be involved in politics — a similarity that he shares with Trump, another source pointed out.

“There are few people in the administration that the president trusts as much as Rubio,” a White House official told CNN. “[Trump] empowers Rubio in a way he doesn’t do with a lot of other members.”

Rubio has shined in comparison to some of his national security colleagues. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has led a chaotic Pentagon and made decisions without White House sign-off. Mike Waltz, Trump’s first national security adviser, was ousted in May after inadvertently adding a journalist to a signal chat to discuss details of a US military strike with top administration officials. And Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard found herself contradicted by Trump over Iran last month.

Meanwhile, Rubio has remained focused on some of Trump’s key priorities, particularly revoking the visas of students who protested Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war and deporting illegal migrants. Rubio’s long relationships in South America have paid dividends, particularly last week. A large-scale prisoner swap saw 252 Venezuelans who had been deported from the US and imprisoned in El Salvador sent back to their home country in exchange for 10 US nationals.

Rubio has long had a relationship with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and spoke with him directly and through trusted intermediaries to make the swap happen, multiple administration officials said.

He also appears to have kept a self-deprecating nature. Rubio recently ran into a friend at the White House, who noted he’d come a long way from his days as Little Marco.

“I am always one step away from being Little Marco again,” Rubio quipped with a smile, the person said.

That doesn’t seem likely given recent events.

Trump lavished praise on Rubio at a White House dinner with Senate allies on Friday night, saying there is never going to be anyone better at the job than he is.

“Who would have thought? We fought,” Trump said of Rubio, reflecting on their 2016 dynamic. “He was so tough — he was tough on that debate stand, right?”

Inside the State Department, Rubio’s prioritization of Trump comes as no surprise to rank-and-file diplomats, who understand the high stakes of serving both as national security adviser and secretary of state.

Still some officials who had widely supported Rubio are now bitter after the State Department’s firings last week, and worry the distribution of information is so tight that they are unable to contribute while inexperienced allies are picked to lead offices.

“When you come in with little to no background and this sort of preconceived idea that you know everything worth knowing, there is a real risk in missing really important things,” said a former senior State Department official, reflecting on the approach of some Trump allies who have taken on big roles in the department.

They are also concerned about how much connective tissue between the US and allies around the world might be lost because of the global impression that Trump does not respect career diplomats.

Senior US diplomats serving as acting ambassadors globally say it can be hard to get meetings because people in their country only want to engage with individuals who are deemed to be Trump allies.

Rubio has also been unavailable at times.

Last month, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s top adviser, was in Washington and scheduled to meet with Rubio at the State Department. But during the time of the planned meeting, Trump scheduled a call with Putin. Rubio’s deputy, Chris Landau, took the Yermak meeting while Rubio joined the Putin call.

Earlier this year, foreign diplomats — including the new Russian ambassador to the US — gathered at the State Department for a reception with Rubio. Landau kept lengthening his introductory remarks as the group waited for Rubio to show up. He never did. He was held up at the White House.

“By and large his schedule is White House-driven, both with meetings the president has and the rest of the coordinating function that the NSC has,” said a senior administration official, adding that Rubio does still have meetings with his leadership team and foreign counterparts at the State Department.

At the White House, Rubio has trimmed the National Security Council to its smallest size in decades.

Having a more nimble NSC with fewer meetings better mirrors Trump’s proclivity to move quickly, administration officials argue. But its small size also contributed to recent confusion over the pause in weapons to Ukraine, some officials said.

“That’s the point of having a national security adviser,” one Trump ally remarked after CNN first reported that Hegseth had failed to inform the White House of the pause, resulting in a public reversal from Trump shortly after it was announced.

None of the sources faulted Rubio specifically, but they did note the purpose of the NSC is to ensure national security agencies work in sync to carry out the president’s agenda — something current and former officials, as well as diplomats from allied countries, have told CNN does not seem to be happening widely.

“If you can get a call into the White House or into Rubio’s chief of staff, that is the best way to know what is going on, otherwise it can be pretty challenging,” said one senior European diplomat.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump has “immense trust” in Rubio to execute his foreign policy vision and that his dual roles allow execution of the president’s priorities “more efficiently across the administration.” She specifically pointed to the execution of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities last month, an operation that Rubio was intimately involved in.

In public remarks and during his TV interviews, Rubio can assume a combative tone in defending Trump and the policies the administration has pursued.

When Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen recently told Rubio during the secretary’s first appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he regretted voting for him, Rubio quickly fired back, “Your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job.”

The day after the US carried out strikes on Iran, Rubio aggressively went after a reporter for pressing him on a US intelligence assessment that Iran’s supreme leader had not made a political decision to pursue a nuclear weapon.

“I know that better than you know that, and I know that that’s not the case,” Rubio said. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

In private settings, Rubio is known to use humor to bond with the people on the other side of the table.

When members of Trump’s national security team briefed Congress on the US military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it was Rubio who was clearly leading the team, sources familiar with the briefing said.

“It was the Rubio show,” said one source who was in the briefing, adding that Hegseth appeared to feel out of place. “He was joking and jovial, using the natural rapport he has with former colleagues.”

While the classified briefing is designed so that each speaker only gets a few minutes to present, Rubio, standing opposite his colleagues, cracked a joke that helped warm the room, where many senators were inclined to be critical of the rationale for the military strikes.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy recalled Rubio joking that it’s hard to tell a senator to speak for only a few minutes. “I’m no longer a senator,” Rubio quipped, according to Cassidy.

Earlier this year Rubio visited Canada for a G7 meeting of foreign ministers at a particularly tense moment: Trump’s tariffs were expected, world leaders were still wary of what Trump’s presidency might mean for alliances, and Trump had been repeating threats about making Canada America’s 51st state.

The group was looking out onto a body of water when Rubio asked which one it was. His Canadian counterpart named the river and Rubio remarked that it looked like an ocean and that maybe it should be renamed the Gulf of Canada, said a source familiar with the matter.

Rubio’s Canadian counterpart did not see the humor, but the rest of foreign ministers broke out into laughter, the source said.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen, Jennifer Hansler, Alayna Treene, Jeremy Herb and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.

When Sen. Ted Cruz went on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show in 2022, he was there to make amends.

The Texas Republican’s offense was having called the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol a “violent terrorist attack.” This kind of view was quickly falling out of favor as Donald Trump moved to sanitize January 6. So Cruz disowned what he had said the day before to a cable host who had just savaged him for it.

It was a stunning scene: a US senator feeling compelled to grovel to a cable TV host who had targeted him for saying January 6 was very bad. But it epitomized the MAGA zeitgeist and shifting power dynamics, in which extreme enforcers like Carlson had to be appeased.

Three years later, Cruz this week joined Carlson on Carlson’s own network for a very different purpose – but also one that recognized the former Fox anchor’s heft on the right.

This time, Cruz was there to try and marginalize a man who is suddenly a big problem for the Trump administration. Carlson has criticized the Trump-backed Israeli strikes on Iran and strongly opposes the US joining in those strikes, which Trump is increasingly considering.

Carlson’s opposition had already earned a sharp comment from the president, who called him “kooky Tucker Carlson.” Cruz was there to argue that maybe this guy that he and other Republicans have been so solicitous of is indeed a crank.

After two hours of jousting over foreign policy, it became clear Cruz was trying to paint Carlson as isolationist, amoral, anti-Trump and soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also quite strongly suggested Carlson might be an antisemite – a charge Carlson rejected.

After Carlson spent much of the first 40 minutes pressing Cruz on his support for Israel and the support he had received from members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – which Carlson sought to cast as a “foreign lobby” – Cruz finally went there.

“By the way, Tucker, it’s a very weird thing, the obsession with Israel,” Cruz said, noting Carlson hadn’t inquired about foreign lobbying from other countries.

“Oh, I’m an antisemite now?” Carlson shot back.

“You’re asking the questions Tucker,” Cruz said. “You’re asking, why are the Jews controlling our foreign policy. That’s what you just asked.”

Carlson accused Cruz of trying to derail his questions by playing the antisemitism card.

“That does not make me an antisemite, and shame on you for suggesting otherwise,” Carlson said.

The exchange evoked growing concerns in some corners of the right over Carlson’s commentary and programming on Israel and Jewish people. Last year, for example, even some Republicans criticized Carlson for hosting a conversation with a Holocaust revisionist. Carlson said the man “may be the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.”

This week’s interview got no less heated from there.

Cruz repeatedly pointed to allegations from the US government that Iran has targeted Trump for assassination, a case in which the Justice Department under then-President Joe Biden brought charges last year. Cruz was trying to tie going after Iran to loyalty to Trump.

This led Carlson to question that narrative about Iran targeting Trump, and Cruz again pounced.

“Did we land on the moon? What other conspiracies to you believe? Was 9/11 an inside job?” Cruz said. He added that “even the looniest Democrat doesn’t dispute that.”

Cruz accused Carlson of having more or less the foreign policy of Jimmy Carter.

“Oh absolutely, I’m a big leftist,” Carlson responded sarcastically. “This is so silly.”

Cruz went on to ask Carlson if Putin was the United States’ enemy. Carlson said Russia was technically our enemy by virtue of the US government’s support for Ukraine, but he resisted making a moral judgment.

“I don’t want to be enemies with Russia. It doesn’t help us at all,” Carlson said. “It may help some people in the United States, but in general, I don’t want to be.”

Cruz pointed to another infamous episode involving Carlson and Russia, when Carlson filmed a video in a Russian grocery store in which he fawned over the facility and its offerings. (Even a participant in an alleged Russian influence operation apparently regarded Carlson’s video as “overt shilling.”)

“It was just weird,” Cruz said. “It was like a promo video for Russia.”

Carlson got his licks in too. In addition to painting Cruz as too focused on supporting Israel, he ridiculed the senator for not being able to quantify the population of Iran and provide a citation for a specific verse of the Bible he referenced.

But after the interview posted, Cruz was quite happy to post a multitude of clips. He said Carlson was “running interference” for Trump’s would-be assassins. He said Carlson was “obsessed with defending Russia and the KGB thug that runs it.” He promoted someone who praised him for calling out Carlson’s “thinly veiled antisemitism.”

And perhaps most tellingly, the Senate Republican Conference on its own feed promoted a bunch of the same content intended to ding Carlson. That would seem to signal this is a concerted GOP effort to deal with a perceived problem.

It remains to be seen whether it works. But it’s a remarkable turnabout from where things were three years ago.

Carlson has been saying these kinds of things for years, but they – and his commentary on Iran – are increasingly political problems for Trump’s party that apparently must be dealt with.

There is a “high probability” that US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday.

“The odds are high,” Rubio told journalists gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday. “I think both sides want to see it happen.”

Rubio said he was unable to provide a date for any potential meeting but said there was a “strong desire on both sides to do it.” He added that it’s necessary to build the “right atmosphere” ahead of any such meeting in order to enable concrete deliverables.

The US top diplomat met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur on Friday for the first in-person meeting between the two foreign ministers, which comes as the US and China navigate trade frictions – and compete for influence in Asia.

The roughly hour-long meeting was “very constructive” and “positive,” Rubio said on Friday evening local time.

“We’re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on,” Rubio said, adding “I thought it was (a) very constructive, positive meeting, and (there’s) a lot of work to do.”

Both Rubio and Wang were attending regional meetings in the Malaysian capital this week, where foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, gathered alongside regional partners including Russia, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

The US and China have endured fraught trade relations since Trump’s return to office earlier this year, escalating and then de-escalating a tit-for-tat tariff spat sparked by the US president’s global trade war and sparring over export controls.

Tensions were eased as the two sides agreed to a trade framework during talks between negotiators in London last month, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week he would meet with Chinese counterparts to continue discussions in the coming weeks. A 90-day pause negotiated between the two sides in May was set to expire in August.

Chinese officials have decried the US tariffs and threatened to retaliate if the US reaches deals with other trade partners at the expense of Chinese interests – a sign that Beijing sees the US as using agreements with other countries as a means to squeeze its economy.

But both sides signaled that the meeting between Wang and Rubio was a productive one with a positive tone – and a step toward expanding cooperation, rather than frictions, between them.

On Friday, Rubio said his meeting with Wang gave the two sides an opportunity to identify areas to work together, but he did not detail areas of possible cooperation.

“That was our message – that (we have) the opportunity here to achieve some strategic stability and identify areas where we can cooperate together on and build better communications and a working trust,” he said.

The Chinese foreign ministry called Friday’s meeting “positive, pragmatic and constructive” in a statement published after Rubio spoke to the media.

Both sides “agreed to strengthen diplomatic channels and communication and dialogue at all levels in all fields,” the statement said. It also said Wang reiterated calls for Washington to view China with an “objective, rational and pragmatic attitude” and treat it in an “equal” manner.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd L) meets with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (2nd R) during the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting and related meetings in Kuala Lumpur on July 11, 2025. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Trump’s trade war has added a layer of complexity to Rubio’s first trip to Asia as Washington’s top diplomat. The US in recent days sent letters to a number of countries announcing the tariff rates they would face in less than a month unless they strike trade deals with the US.

Eight of the 10 countries in ASEAN – along with South Korea and Japan – will face tariffs from the US on August 1, if the implementation deadline holds.

That’s created an opening for Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, who has looked to project a message that China remains a stable economic partner for the region. In meetings with ASEAN counterparts Thursday, Wang said China “always regards” ASEAN as a “priority” for China’s regional diplomacy.

US government officials have positioned Rubio’s trip as part of an effort to show that Washington remains committed to the region, where China is a key economic partner but also has friction with nations like the Philippines over its aggression in the South China Sea.

“In his first trip to Asia as secretary of state, Secretary Rubio is focused on reaffirming the United States’ commitment to advancing a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific region,” Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement earlier this week.

On Friday, Rubio pushed back on the idea that US tariffs could create an opportunity for China economically in the region, and said Washington is committed to addressing “tremendous trade imbalances” with countries that have accumulated over the past few decades.

“We’re resetting tariff levels with virtually every country in the world,” he told journalists, noting that such imbalances are “unfair to America and American workers.”

Last year, the US notched a $295 billion goods trade deficit with China, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

“I think countries are going to trade with multiple countries. We don’t view this as an opening for anyone. We don’t view it that way. We view it as an opportunity to reset global trade in a way that’s fair for Americans after two or three decades of unfairness,” he said.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in recent days said his country needs to wean itself off of dependence on the US – particularly citing security – as Tokyo faces the prospect of new tariffs. Rubio pointed to active US-Japan military exercises before making the case that such a move would be positive.

“The idea that Japan’s military would become more capable is not something we would be offended by; it’s something we would actually be encouraged by,” Rubio said.

CNN’s Anna Cooban and Shawn Deng contributed to this report.

Marco Rubio’s rapid ascent within President Donald Trump’s administration has made him one of the most powerful figures in US foreign policy, despite his evolving stance on several key issues.

Once a staunch advocate for foreign aid and a vocal critic of engaging with adversarial nations, Rubio has adapted to Trump’s “America First” approach and now serves in a multifaceted role as Secretary of State, acting head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and acting archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, Caliber.Az reports citing foreign media.

In his new role, Rubio has overseen significant changes, including a drastic reduction in USAID’s operations, resulting in the closure of health clinics across Africa and the Middle East. His shift from advocating for foreign aid to dismantling it has been particularly striking, with forecasts suggesting that communicable diseases may rise as a result. Meanwhile, Rubio, once a hawk on foreign policy, has now been tasked with defending Trump’s outreach to Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Hamas.

Now, the former senator from Florida has become the most powerful US Cabinet member by title since Henry Kissinger — accumulating four positions, including secretary of state, acting head of the US Agency for International Development, and acting archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration.

Rubio’s meteoric rise in Trump’s orbit has coincided with his enabling of policies that Democratic and some Republican colleagues say are unrecognizable from those he espoused as a senator and presidential candidate.

“Some of his former colleagues were hoping he would be the ‘adult in the room.’ That is a very warped view of our constitutional system,” said a senior Rubio aide, emphasizing that it is the president who sets foreign policy, with roles like the Secretary of State implementing that vision.

Rubio’s climb has not been without challenges. The volatility of Trump’s administration has seen the dismissal of four national security advisers, and Rubio is navigating a precarious path. Despite these difficulties, he has managed to maintain a steady hand, remaining quiet about how he will manage the National Security Council (NSC), a body that has seen several vacancies under Trump’s leadership.

Rubio’s pragmatic approach has led to an environment of cooperation, with Trump noting, “When I have a problem, I call up Marco — he gets it solved.” His influence is particularly evident in his handling of the Ukraine conflict, where he recently stated, “This conflict needs to end… Ukraine is being destroyed and losing more and more territory.”

While Rubio has embraced policies that align closely with Trump’s views, Senate Democrats are less enthusiastic. “Rubio’s MAGA brain transplant is complete,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland). Rubio’s rise has, however, delighted hard-liners in the GOP, particularly on issues like immigration reform and his push for foreign deportations.

As Rubio continues to expand his influence in Trump’s inner circle, the stakes remain high. His evolution from a more traditional Republican to a key architect of Trump’s foreign policy reflects both his political adaptability and the tensions within the administration.

By Vafa Guliyeva

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would nominate national security adviser Mike Waltz to serve as UN ambassador, after widespread reports that Trump planned to oust him, in the first major staff shakeup since the president took office in January.

The president said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would replace Waltz in the prior role on an interim basis.

“Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

Trump informed Waltz that he was removing him from his role as national security adviser and nominating him as UN ambassador Thursday morning, a White House official told CNN.

“I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” Waltz wrote on X after Trump’s announcement.

Waltz’s job has been in limbo after it was made clear to him earlier this week that his time leading the National Security Council had come to an end, according to a source familiar with the matter. Alex Wong, the deputy national security adviser, and other national security advisers are expected to depart their roles as well, per multiple sources familiar with conversations, though timing is unclear.

Rubio now fills four roles within the administration: secretary of state, national security adviser, national archivist and acting administrator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Waltz is heading to a potentially contentious confirmation fight in the Senate. Multiple people close to Trump said the president does not view the UN ambassador role as a high priority. That’s in part why he never intervened early on to speed along the nomination of his first pick, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. Trump also did not move quickly to pick a new person for the role, after Republicans’ narrow House majority forced Stefanik to remain in Congress.

Waltz had been on shaky ground within the administration – having lost most of his influence in the West Wing – after he inadvertently added a journalist to a messaging app group chat about highly sensitive military strikes.

Trump had considered firing him after the incident, but declined to do so because he didn’t want to provide his enemies a perceived victory, and he hoped to avoid the type of chaos that colored his first administration.

But while Trump stood by him at the time, Waltz’s standing hadn’t ever really recovered, according to four sources, and he lost clout with top aides inside the West Wing. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has privately been one of the officials most unimpressed with Waltz — even before the Signal fiasco.

At 100 days into his second term, Trump no longer appears as concerned about the appearance of disorder.

Waltz’s influence internally had been waning for weeks, illustrated best by Trump’s decision to dismiss several staffers from the National Security Council at the urging of far-right activist Laura Loomer, who told him they were disloyal. Loomer told CNN Thursday she had previously tried to raise concerns about Waltz directly with Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office, where Loomer was urging the removal of certain national security officials. She said she planned to show Trump a 2016 campaign ad in which Waltz criticized him, but before she could play the clip on her phone, Waltz entered the room.

Loomer said she had also targeted Wong, citing his past work for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Mark Halperin first reported the news of Waltz being pushed out.

Trump’s thinking on Hegseth

Before Trump announced his new plans for Waltz, Democrats on Capitol Hill largely reacted to news of his ouster by saying Trump was going after the wrong national security official. They believed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth deserved the boot more after he discussed bomb targets in Yemen in the Signal chat.

“I think they’re holding the wrong guy accountable,” Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said, adding that he thought Waltz accidentally including a journalist on the Signal chat was an “unfortunate mistake” but that he found it most troubling that Hegseth shared “incredibly sensitive information about a strike off of an aircraft carrier, putting pilots at risk.”

But Trump’s thinking on Hegseth has sharply differed from how he regarded Waltz after the Signal episode, according to people familiar with the matter. The president was never able to move beyond the question of how Waltz invited Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic into the group chat in the first place, people familiar with the matter say.

While Trump did not think Hegseth exercised good judgment in sharing the Yemen war plan in at least two group chats, according to the people familiar, he believed his Defense secretary should not be dismissed after the administration spent so much political capital to confirm him.

Hegseth also has more far support outside the administration through the Trump-inspired MAGA movement than Waltz, who was viewed with deep suspicion among the base. Plus, unlike Hegseth, replacing Waltz does not involve a Senate confirmation fight.

Still, Hegseth has faced internal scrutiny. Wiles has ordered Hegseth and the Pentagon to step up their performance, offering an admonition weeks ago that there is “no room for more mistakes or embarrassments.”

But behind the scenes, some administration officials had begun quietly discussing an off-ramp for Waltz over the last several days. Trump has expressed frustration with him on multiple fronts, including the Signal episode. He was also irritated the Florida congressional race to replace Waltz was closer than expected, two sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.

“President Trump lost confidence in him a while ago,” one source said.

Waltz boarded Marine One with Trump on Tuesday, but when his colleagues boarded Air Force One about 10 minutes later, he instead remained on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. One White House official said he was never slated to travel with the president to Michigan, but the move was viewed as odd by other aides inside the administration.

Asked about the impact of Waltz’s dismissal as national security adviser, before Rubio was named as a replacement, multiple foreign officials — including some from the Middle East — expressed apprehension about who would fill the role.

“Of all of them, we never thought he would be the first [to be fired],” said a senior western official.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Manu Raju and Steve Contorno contributed to this report.