Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen told Marco Rubio he “regretted voting for him” as the U.S’ top diplomat during a tense exchange on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
The Secretary of State faced a grilling from Democrats while testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions, which saw him field questions about revoking student visas, slashing USAID, and the illegal deportation of migrants to a prison in El Salvador.
“You and I served together in Congress for 15 years,” Van Hollen told Rubio. “We didn’t always agree, but I believe we shared some common values—a belief in defending democracy and human rights abroad and honoring the Constitution at home. That’s why I voted to confirm you. I believed you would stand up for those principles. You haven’t. You’ve done the opposite.”
He continued: “You used to speak with conviction about the importance of foreign aid as a tool to advance American values and interests. Then you stood by while Elon Musk took a chainsaw to USAID and other assistance programs.”
Van Hollen said Rubio’s tenure as Secretary of State has “made a mockery of our country’s refugee process, turning it into a system of global apartheid where political ideology and race matter more than truth or need matter.”
“I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you as secretary of state,” he added.
Rubio however fired back at the Maryland senator, and said his disappointment in him “confirms I’m doing a good job.”
“That’s a flippant statement,” Van Hollen replied.
The pair also clashed over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an innocent man who was wrongfully imprisoned in El Salvador due to an “administrative error” by the Trump administration and was personally visited in jail by Van Hollen himself.
Rubio told the senator he is under “no obligation” to answer questions from a judge about the government’s relationship with El Salvador, and made baseless claims that Garcia was a gang member involved in human trafficking.
Insinuations about criminal activity by Garcia were only raised after his deportation, and are not present in any court documents relating to his detention or return.
“No judge in the judicial branch can tell me or the president how to conduct foreign policy,” Rubio said.
“We deported gang members, gang members, including the one you had a margarita with,” he added, referring to false reports the senator had drunk margaritas with Garcia during their meeting in April. “That guy is a human trafficker, and that guy is a gang banger.”
“Mr. Chairman, he can’t make unsubstantiated claims like that!” Van Hollen snapped back. “Secretary Rubio should take that testimony to the federal court of the United States because he hasn’t done it under oath.”
Democrats unanimously voted to confirm Rubio as secretary of state in January, with the Florida senator achieving a clean sweep of 99 votes in favor of his appointment and none against it.
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