Exclusive — Rubio: ‘Strong Desire’ in Middle East for Abraham Accords Expansion, ‘World Has Been Dying for’ Trump’s ‘Kind of Leadership’

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Breitbart News that his conversations with leaders across the Middle East suggest a “strong desire” in the region to see expansion of the historic Abraham Accords, and that worldwide the planet is thrilled President Donald Trump is back in the White House, as the “world has been dying for” Trump’s “kind of leadership” again in Washington.

“I think there is a strong desire,” Rubio said when asked if he thinks a deal can be brokered to expand the Abraham Accords to include nations like Saudi Arabia. “I think what was behind October 7 in some ways was an effort to stop that from happening. I think no nation, no regime on the planet, is more freaked out and anti-Abraham Accords expansion than Iran, which is why they were involved in getting Hamas to do October 7. But I think there is a lot of countries out there that would love to enter the Abraham Accords, and obviously we got to get through the situation in Gaza, and that has to get wrapped up in a way that is acceptable to Israel and makes Israel feel that their security interests are taken into account. But assuming that happens, then I do think you’re going to see more countries entering the Abraham Accords which, keep in mind, was one of the most historic advances in Middle East peace in decades and which was widely mocked by Democrats. by the way, when it first happened. We’ve now seen more and more countries, even quietly, I don’t want to say who they are yet because they’ve been quiet about it, but we’ve had more and more countries sort of come forward and say they would like to join as well from the region.including Africa. so I think it’s something we can build on and to me it would be one of the great developments of this term.”

Rubio sat down Monday evening at the State Department headquarters in Washington, DC, for a long-form interview with Breitbart News. In this exclusive interview, Rubio explained the move by the United States that day to vote against a Ukraine-led resolution at the United Nations to condemn the Russians for the war in Ukraine—and then sponsor a separate resolution that called for an end to the war. He also talked about the contours of peace negotiations with both sides, the Ukrainians and the Russias, and both nations took notice of the interview. Ukrainian state media referenced the interview, and then later Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov responded warmly to it per Russian state media.

Rubio, also in this interview, discussed U.S. efforts to somewhat “peel” Russia off of China, and broader U.S. strategy in combating the Chinese Communist Party’s Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing formally responded to Rubio’s comments on this front as well, bashing Rubio’s idea as doomed to fail from their perspective.

The fact that two of the world’s most powerful nations—the Russians and the Chinese—both responded to this interview shows just how drastic and serious the big picture changes happening rapidly in Trump’s Washington really are and how big world events are being shaped in long-form discussions like this. Asked in this final portion of the interview about how the world seems excited for Trump’s return to the White House about a month into this administration, Rubio said the world enjoys having Trump there because, first off, he shoots straight and says what he means, but then also because he stands for common sense in diplomacy.

“They’re excited first of all to have a president who’s very transparent,” Rubio told Breitbart News during Monday’s interview. “That’s the thing about President Trump: you don’t have to wonder what he’s thinking. He’ll tell you. He says it openly. He says it publicly. I’ve never seen a more pro-media president. Everything he does, he wants it to be more transparent and in full view of the world. Today alone, as I sit here with you, I sat in on a meeting he had with President Macron, and then he had a press conference afterwards with President Macron. You see that happening. I think people are excited about that. I think they’re also excited about having a president that doesn’t just have clarity but has common sense. That brings back a level of common sense and maturity—seriousness—to foreign policy. That involves defining what our national interests are. I know this is kind of simplistic, but foreign policy works best when everyone clearly defines what their national interests are—when your national interests are in common, my national interest and your national interest, that’s where you work together. When our national interests are in conflict, that’s where the hard work of diplomacy happens to prevent conflict and managing that. President Trump sees the world that way, whether it’s in economics or geopolitics, and I think the world is excited to have that, because you have somebody who’s not going to lecture them about ideology. He’s down to the very simple common sense here of what makes sense for your country and for ours. How can we work together, and if we have a problem how can we work through it in a way that respects both sides? I think the world has been dying for that kind of leadership.”

Interestingly, several establishment media organizations have totally misunderstood Rubio’s State Department so far. The Washington Post published an inaccurate story about USAID funding to Haiti claiming Rubio had cut the money–Breitbart News got the story correct when this outlet reported it out—Rubio had issued waivers for the aid money to keep flowing. In addition, Politico recently published a big story claiming Rubio’s not really in charge at the State Department, seemingly misunderstanding all of what Rubio has learned about the negative effects of globalization and endless war. The Politico piece seems to operate under the false perception that Rubio is somehow a globalist and has been neutered by Trump, but if anyone followed Rubio as closely as Breitbart News has the past many years since the 2016 election. they would know this narrative to be extremely untrue.

Asked about these two pieces of fake news in particular from the establishment media, and more broadly the failures of the establishment media, Rubio said these are examples why such organizations are “dying” and he predicted they will eventually be fully replaced by places like Breitbart News.

“That’s why establishment media is dying. Unfortunately, it’s lost all credibility,” Rubio said. “Something will replace it. You guys will replace them, others will replace them. That’s why we’re doing more and more of these interactions and long-form interviews. It’s not a bunch of stupid gotcha questions but serious discussions about foreign policy. They’re still out there and we still engage them. We also talk to them. But ultimately I think it’s more of a problem for the establishment media than it is for us with some of the things they’re putting out there. There is misleading things that leads to some chaos and concern, and we’ll work through it, but it’s not going to stop us from our work. The truth of the matter is when you go, I think President Trump understands they’re never going to be his fans, but he already won despite them. He doesn’t need them. We’re going to do the work and we’re going to be judged in the long term by what we achieve, not by what they’re saying in some article tomorrow that’s poorly sourced and in many cases blatantly biased in order to create headlines that are negative toward the administration. I think for the overwhelming majority of Americans, everything we’re doing makes sense. It’s common sense.”

Rubio also, in this final piece of the interview with Breitbart News, reflected on the importance of his decision to travel to Western Hemisphere nations like Panama and other Central American countries as well as Caribbean nations in his first trip as Secretary of State rather than going to Europe, Asia, or the Middle East.

“Sure, and I think part of it is if you look at one of the big things that President Trump was elected on was ending this migratory crisis,” Rubio said. “So, look at the countries down that I visited. Almost every one of them was part of the migratory route, whether it’s Panama, whether it’s parts of the Darien Gap, whether it’s Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica—these are all countries where migrants are coming through, and in the case of Guatemala were sources of, into the United States, so our southern border if you want to think about it from migration doesn’t just start with Mexico. It’s all the way down at the Darien Gap. In the case of the Dominican Republic, that’s a pro-American government right next to and sharing the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, so they’re impacted by the Haitian crisis. They’re also impacted by other countries where migrants and drug traffickers are trying to come through the Dominican Republic to reach the United States, but they’re a great partner, so it made sense to go visit them and talk to them as well. It’s the hemisphere we live in. No matter what happens, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, these are always going to be our neighbors. They’re always going to be our neighbors. We can’t move to a different continent. So whatever happens in those countries, for better or worse, it’s going to have an impact on us. El Salvador, we have a great pro-American president. In Panama, [we have] a great pro-American president. In Guatemala, [there is] a president who wants to work with us. Costa Rica [has a] pro-American president. The Dominican Republic, the same. So, yeah, we’re going to pay attention to our friends, to countries that want to be helpful. That’s been missing for a long time. It’s a good place to start. I could do all my meetings in Spanish so we saved on interpreters—that also is helpful. I thought we are going to get and continue to get really good results from those visits.”