Secretary of State Marco Rubio‘s Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s confidence betrayed him as he moved by Wednesday’s Senate Overseas Relations Committee listening to.
Rubio answered questions with ease and at instances breezily however remained unaware that one offhand clarification would reopen a difficulty the White Home, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt particularly, appeared to imagine had already been put to relaxation.
The listening to, anticipated to focus narrowly on U.S. coverage towards Venezuela, shortly widened as Democrats pressed Rubio on President Donald Trump’s current feedback overseas, his tone towards NATO allies, and the administration’s more and more strained messaging on the world stage.
When pressed on Trump’s fixation with Greenland and his repeated references to Greenland as Iceland, Rubio blew a gap proper by the administration’s fastidiously maintained story.
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The second unfolded when Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine pressed Rubio on Trump’s current speech on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos. Trump had talked at size about a spot he referred to as Iceland — although the context made clear he was speaking about Greenland.
Kaine laid it out plainly, quoting Trump’s personal phrases again to him: “Right here’s what one thing the president stated in Davos: ‘I’m serving to NATO till the previous few days, after I advised them about Iceland, they beloved me. They’re not right here for us on Iceland. That I can inform you. Our inventory market took the primary dip yesterday due to Iceland. So Iceland has already value us some huge cash.’”
Kaine then requested the apparent follow-up: “The president repeatedly mistook Iceland for Greenland, proper? We’re not mad at Iceland. They haven’t value us any cash. The president simply mistook the 2 nations for one another, appropriate?”
Rubio’s response: “Yeah, he meant to say Greenland, however I believe we’re all acquainted with presidents which have verbal stumbles. We’ve had presidents like that earlier than. Some made much more than this one.”
Kaine didn’t let it slide. “Good attempt.”
Throughout the change, Rubio did one thing that Leavitt had refused to do: he acknowledged the president’s mistake outright. By saying Trump “meant to say Greenland,” Rubio successfully undercut days of denials from Leavitt — denials that had already triggered ridicule, reality checks and rising mistrust.
On-line, critics instantly piled on. One commenter identified a broader concern: “The following query is ‘if the Press Secretary lies about one thing as trivial as that, how can we belief what she says about something?’”
Others mocked Rubio for not getting on script.
“Leavitt and Rubio didn’t coordinate on their l i e s,” wrote one reader whereas one other added, “That’s not what Karoline stated Marco!”
One other requested on X, “However Leavitt stated that wasn’t true. Is Marco calling her a liar?”
On-line reactions adopted Leavitt’s insistence that Trump by no means confused Iceland and Greenland in any respect — regardless of video, transcripts and widespread reporting displaying in any other case.
After Trump’s fumble in Davos, NewsNation correspondent Libbey Dean famous on X that “President Trump appeared to combine up Greenland and Iceland round thrice.”
Leavitt fired again: “No he didn’t, Libby. His written remarks referred to Greenland as a ‘piece of ice’ as a result of that’s what it’s.” She added, “You’re the one one mixing something up right here.”
The issue was that viewers had watched the speech for themselves and unmistakably heard Trump confer with Iceland.
Based on the official transcript printed by the World Financial Discussion board, Trump referred to Iceland 4 instances in passages clearly coping with Greenland. The Related Press livestream reveals the identical factor, with the mix-ups occurring at a number of factors within the speech.
Commenters reacted sharply to Leavitt’s denial.
“I’m undecided how many individuals watched Trump’s incoherent speech however I’m positive it’s within the 10s of tens of millions,” Jon Wiltshire wrote on X. “Leavitt simply plain mendacity right here as on quite a few events he referred to Greenland as Iceland. She’s pathetic.”
One other response put it much more plainly: “Karoline Leavitt expects us to imagine that Trump didn’t say ‘Iceland’ as a substitute of ‘Greenland,’ like we didn’t all watch this video of him saying Iceland. ICELAND. He didn’t say A PIECE OF ICE. The dork stated ICELAND.”
The difficulty drew sufficient consideration that fact-checkers stepped in. Snopes confirmed that Trump did, in truth, confuse the 2 locations in the course of the speech. Regardless of that, Leavitt doubled down, pointing solely to Trump’s ready textual content relatively than his spoken phrases.
Requested later why Leavitt would deny one thing so simply verified, White Home spokesperson Taylor Rogers provided an announcement that sidestepped the query totally: “President Trump delivered a historic speech in Davos laying out America’s compelling nationwide safety pursuits involving Greenland. Mere hours afterward, President Trump introduced the framework for a future cope with respect to Greenland. President Trump continues to ship outcomes whereas the failing, liberal media melts down.”
The assertion didn’t clarify the motivation behind denying what tens of millions of individuals noticed and heard. It additionally didn’t deal with why Rubio, when confronted immediately, selected to acknowledge the error as a substitute of sticking to the social gathering line.
