(FILES) Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, during a campaign rally at the J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 4, 2024. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly / AFP)
Washington: President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, The New York Times reported Monday night.
It quoted three people as saying that the decision is not final, but that Trump appears to have settled on Rubio, a loyalist whom Trump passed over as his vice presidential running mate.
Rubio has been consistently named over the last week as one of the frontrunners to head US diplomacy, along with the abrasive former ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell.
He would become a key architect of Trump's second term "America First" foreign policy, with Trump having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and avoid any more American military entanglements overseas.
Fellow Florida Senator Rick Scott sent congratulations to Rubio in a message on X, writing: "He will restore American leadership around the world, especially in Latin America, as he represents the United States with dignity and courage!"
The nomination of Rubio, a hawkish congressman with Cuban heritage, would cap a remarkable turnaround in his relations with Trump.
In 2016, when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio called Trump a "con artist" and the "most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency."
Trump belittled him as "Little Marco" and mocked him for sweating and wearing heavy makeup during TV appearances.
