JUST IN: First Trump Cabinet Nominee Has Been Confirmed

Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the next secretary of state, making him the first of President Trump’s cabinet nominees to be confirmed.

Rubio, who had served in the Senate since 2011, was confirmed during a floor vote by the full Senate body just a few hours after President Trump was sworn in. The full Senate floor vote came  after a separate vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which also voted unanimously in favor of Rubio’s nomination a few hours beforehand.

Rubio will assume the crucial role with an extensive background in foreign policy, as he has long been a member on the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee. A Cuban American, Rubio also became the first Latino secretary of state in U.S. history.

Photo: Gage Skidmore

Ahead of his confirmation, Rubio was widely expected to face little to no resistance from Senate Democrats. When Rubio testified before the Foreign Relations Committee in his first confirmation hearing last week, the panel’s ranking Democrat offered high praise of his skill-set. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) stated that her former colleague possessed “the skills” and is “well-qualified” to serve as the next secretary of state.

The senator affirmed her support for Rubio’s confirmation during the full Senate floor vote on Monday evening. “I’ve had a good working relationship with Sen. Rubio for many years, and I was very impressed during his hearing by his grasp of policy,” Shaheen said. “While we may not always agree, I believe he has the skills, knowledge and qualifications to be secretary of state.”

Rubio stressed during the hearings that his top priority as America’s top diplomat will be to put the nation’s interests first. “This will not be easy,” he said. “And it will be impossible without a strong and a confident America that engages in the world, putting our core national interests, once again, above all else.”

He will immediately be tasked with a number of difficult challenges after assuming the new post, including the ongoing War in Ukraine, threats from China and the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which entered a tentative ceasefire earlier this week.

In addition to Rubio, the Senate Intelligence Committee voted Monday evening to advance the nomination of John Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee for Director of the CIA, by a vote of 14-3. A full floor vote is expected at some point this evening, which will likely see Ratcliffe confirmed by the end of the night.

Then-congressman Ratcliffe meets with Trump in the Oval Office in 2017

Ratcliffe served as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in the first Trump Administration. In that capacity, he played a key role in removing any doubt behind the Clinton Campaign’s involvement in launching the Russian collusion hoax, which was used to hamstring Trump’s first term.

In a September 2020 memo to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ratcliffe revealed that former CIA Director John Brennan in 2016 briefed then-President Barack Obama on allegations of Russian-directed “hacking” of American elections. Brennan noted that the plan was approved by Hillary Clinton before forwarding it to then FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Assistant of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok.

As for the rest of Trump’s cabinet nominees, the majority are expected to be confirmed, if not all of them. Senate Democrats launched a fierce opposition campaign against Pete Hegseth, who has been nominated to lead the Department of Defense, though he is expected to be confirmed after a number of potential Republican holdouts endorsed his candidacy.

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