Marco Rubio revealed that his arrival at the Department of State began with a call from Donald Trump that was far less formal than one might expect for such a significant position in the U.S. government.
According to the secretary of state, during an interview with Katie Miller, the then president-elect did not call him to ask if he was interested in leaving the Senate to become the head of American diplomacy; instead, he informed him that the position was his.
"He simply called me and said, 'You are going to be the Secretary of State.' It wasn't presented as an option," Rubio recalled during the conversation, which took place at the State Department and in which his wife, Jeanette, also participated.
Rubio explained that during the campaign, there was a perception that he could end up holding an important position in a potential second Trump administration, but he assured that the matter had not been openly discussed between the two of them.
The call came, according to his memories, just 48 or 72 hours after the elections. "I think I had even shared it already and then he told me," Rubio recounted with a laugh. Despite the unusual way he received the news, he made it clear that he accepted with enthusiasm: "I was happy to do it and felt honored."
Rubio insisted that the conversation was far from being a negotiation about his political future. “It wasn't something like, ‘Would you be interested?’. It was more like, ‘You're going to be.’ And I said, ‘Well, here we go,’” he recalled.
The anecdote now offers a more personal perspective on an appointment that had a significant impact among Cubans.
Rubio, son of Cuban immigrants, left his seat for Florida to become the first Hispanic to head the Department of State. During his swearing-in ceremony in January 2025, he spoke in Spanish and honored his parents, who came to the United States from Cuba in 1956.
Since his appointment became known, his history of critical positions towards the regime in Havana has fueled expectations about the role that Cuba would play in the foreign policy of the new administration.
Over time, Rubio has come to occupy a central position on that front.
Trump has publicly acknowledged his role in the contacts with Havana. In March, he stated that Cuba was negotiating "with Marco and me" and introduced the Secretary of State as one of the key figures in Washington for those discussions.
The president himself has also highlighted Rubio's family roots as an element of experience on the Cuban issue, publicly recalling that his parents came from the island.
The interview with Miller, for his part, gave insight into how Rubio began the journey that led him to that position, which he accepted with enthusiasm. "Here we go," he recalled thinking at the time.
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