Donald Trump is expected to recruit Florida senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, putting him track to be the first Latino to serve as the US’s top diplomat once the Republican president-elect takes office in January.
Mr Rubio was arguably the most hawkish option on Mr Trump’s shortlist for secretary of state, and he has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to the US’s geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba.
Over the last several years he has softened some of his stances to align more closely with Mr Trump’s views. The president-elect accuses past US presidents of leading America into costly and futile wars and has pushed for a more restrained foreign policy.
While the famously mercurial Mr Trump could always change his mind at the last minute, he appeared to have settled on his pick as of Monday, according to sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
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In a separate development on Tuesday, Mr Trump said on he was going to nominate former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to be the US ambassador to Israel.
Mr Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, is a staunch supporter of Israel and defender of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!” Trump said in a statement.
Mr Huckabee (69) has criticised President Joe Biden for pressuring Israel to moderate its conduct of the Gaza war. “If a person is pro-Israel, how can you be pro-Biden because the Biden administration has made it very clear they will make concessions to Hamas,” Mr Huckabee said in an interview in March.
Mr Huckabee served as Arkansas governor from 1996 to 2007. He fell short in bids for the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2016. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is the current governor of Arkansas. She served as Mr Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019.
Also on Tuesday, the judge overseeing Mr Trump’s criminal “hush money” case has put off ruling on whether the president-elect’s conviction should be thrown out on immunity grounds, enabling prosecutors to weigh next steps following his November 5th election victory.
Justice Juan Merchan had been due to rule on Mr Trump’s argument that the US supreme court’s decision in July that presidents are immune from prosecution involving their official acts meant the New York state case should be dismissed.
Instead, Justice Merchan granted a request by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office to have until November 19th to consider how to approach the case in light of Mr Trump’s looming inauguration in January 2025, email correspondence made public on Tuesday showed.
Mr Trump’s scheduled sentencing on November 26th is now widely expected to be postponed.
Mr Trump in May became the first US president – former or sitting – to be convicted of a crime when a jury in Manhattan found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a potential sex scandal shortly before his first election win in 2016.
The apparent selection of Marco Rubio as secretary of state has generated concern among some allies of Mr Trump who see the Florida senator as having a world view and establishment credentials at odds with the more isolationist stance favoured by the Republican hard right.
Some cautioned on the social media site X that the choice of Mr Rubio had not been finalised, although it was unclear where their information was coming from.
Neither Mr Trump nor Mr Rubio has spoken publicly about the matter.
The new administration will confront a world more volatile and dangerous than it was when Mr Trump took office in 2017, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and with China aligning itself more closely with US foes Russia and Iran.
The Ukraine crisis will be high on Mr Rubio’s agenda.
Mr Rubio (53) has said in recent interviews that Ukraine needs to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia rather than focus on regaining all territory that Russia has taken in the last decade. He was also one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other US partners, passed in April. – Reuters