Marco Rubio Defends Trump's Proposed Three-way Summit Talk With Xi Jinping And Vladimir Putin

I mean, Intel sharing, Starlink, Interceptors. Well, Starlink is a private commercial company. Right, right. It seems like there is some serious tension. Oh, there's no doubt, and that's why we had that call today. Well, we had a call today. I think at its core is the president is frustrated because, first of all, he doesn't like to be blamed for things that aren't true, including accusations that somehow he had ordered intelligence sharing to be cut off, and that's not true. He's said that repeatedly. All of that said, I think the president understands and has said consistently from the very beginning that the way this war needs to end is with a negotiated deal and he wants to make one and he wants both sides to come to an agreement and so I certainly but I think the president more than anything is responding to the insinuation that somehow he is doing things to deliberately harm Ukraine which is not fair and not true but he's most certainly angry and frustrated at the lack of progress in those negotiations after having dedicated almost two years to it now. Oh well that's there's no doubt that we've expressed but we've openly expressed to you repeatedly that we don't think the energy strikes, for example, on shipping in the Black Sea. It goes back months now that we've been complaining about that. We had American companies calling us. What are we supposed to do when an American company calls and says we've had our cargo struck and it's happened multiple times? So that was an irritant. There's no doubt about it. I think there's no there's also the reality that the combination is not just what happened in the Straits of Hormuz. There are nights where as much oil gets through there as pre-conflict and most nights it's at least 70 or 80 percent of it. But it's not just the Straits of Hormuz anymore. It's pipelines in Saudi Arabia that have been targeted by the Houthis. And it is the war between Russia and Ukraine and the attacks on refining capabilities that's putting pressure not on the United States alone. You travel to any country in the world and they will tell you that they're having a diesel problem, that there's a diesel problem in terms of access to affordable diesel that so much of their economies are powered by. There are multiple countries around the world that are facing a very dangerous situation there. So, of course, we're concerned about what those strike, which is one of the reasons why this war needs to end, among others. One of the reasons why this war needs to end is because too many people are dying. One of the reasons why this war needs to end is because Ukraine's electric grid is being devastated. One of the reasons this war needs to end is because every month 20,000 or 25,000 Russians are slaughtered as they try to advance in Ukraine. All of these are bad things. Mass death, the destruction, the death of civilians in Kiev, as we've seen with some of these ballistic missile strikes. This is a terrible bloody nasty war that needs to come to an end and i don't know anyone in the world who disagrees with what i'm saying and we're trying to do the best we can to sort of bring both parties to a place where this war can end in a negotiated way because right now as it currently stands not only will more people continue to die and more things continue to be destroyed but there's a very real risk there's the real risk here of escalation of it spreading to some other place regardless Well, the only way you're going to find out is to try. You know, I mean, I know what they've historically said, but I don't know why it would be surprising. I think it's time for, I'm not saying you individually, but people need to grow up when it comes to foreign policy a little bit, okay? I don't think it's unusual for the three most powerful nuclear-armed nations on Earth for their leaders to communicate with one another. I think it makes all the sense in the world. They may have strong disagreements about things. We also have a president, rightfully so, who does not consider talking to someone to be a concession. I hear people on the TV, oh, you're rewarding so-and-so by talking to them. Well, that's absurd. For example, how are you going to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine if you don't talk to Russia and Ukraine? You have to talk to them, right? So, I mean, that's the bottom line of diplomacy. In negotiations, you have to be able to speak to the other side. So I don't think it's, frankly, I think if there's an opportunity, and the President's expressed an openness to do it for the United States, Russia, and China at the leader level, to have a conversation about things like arms control, that would be a very positive thing for the world. That should be something the world is enthused by. Now, I imagine there's a lot of differences and disagreements between the three countries that are probably not going to be resolved in a summit like that. But there are a lot of important topics, and I think the world is a safer place when the leaders of the most powerful nuclear arsenals in the world are at least communicating with one another. So I don't know if China's willing to discuss it. I know what they've historically said, that they'll talk about it when they catch up with everybody else. But I think the fact we have a president that was willing to try is a good thing, something Americans should be proud and happy about. Mr. Secretary? Well, Starlink is a private commercial company. Right, right. It's serious tension. Oh, there's no doubt, and that's why we had that call today. Well, we had a call today. I think at its core, as the president, it's frustrating because, first of all, he doesn't like to be blamed for things that aren't true, including accusations that somehow he had ordered intelligence sharing to be cut off, and that's not true. He's said that repeatedly. All of that said, I think the president understands and has said consistently from the very beginning that the way this war needs to end is with a negotiated deal, and he wants to make one, and he wants both sides to come to an agreement. And so I certainly, but I think the president more than anything is responding to the insinuation that somehow he is doing things to deliberately harm Ukraine which is not fair and not true uh but but he but he's most certainly angry and frustrated at the lack of progress in those negotiations after having dedicated almost two years to it now oh well that's uh there's no doubt that we've expressed but we've openly expressed to you repeatedly that we don't think the energy strikes for example on shipping in the Black Sea it goes back months now that we've been complaining about that we had american companies calling us, I mean what are we supposed to do when American company calls and says we've had our cargo struck and it's happened multiple times. So that was an irritant. There's no doubt about it. I think there's no there's also the reality that the combination is not just what happened in the Straits of Hormuz. There are nights where as much oil gets through there as pre-conflict and most nights, at least 70 or 80 percent of it. But it's not just the Straits of Hormuz anymore. It's pipelines in Saudi Arabia that have been targeted by the Houthis. And it is the war between Russia and Ukraine and the attacks on refining capabilities that's putting pressure not on the United States alone, you could you travel to any country in the world and they will tell you that they're having a diesel problem that there's a diesel problem in terms of access to affordable diesel that so much of their economies are powered by, there are multiple countries around the world that are facing a very dangerous situation there, so of course we're concerned about what those strikes which is one of the reasons why this war needs to end among others one of the reasons why this war needs to end is because too many people are dying, one of the reasons why this war needs to end is because Ukraine's electric grid is being devastated one of the reasons this war needs to end is because every month 20 or 25,000 Russians are slaughtered by, in in as they try to advance in Ukraine, all these are bad things, mass death of this the destruction the death of civilians in Kyiv as we've seen with some of these ballistic missile strikes, this is a terrible bloody nasty war that needs to come to an end and I don't And I don't know anyone in the world who disagrees with what I'm saying. And we're trying to do the best we can to sort of bring both parties to a place where this war can end in a negotiated way, because right now, as it currently stands, not only will more people continue to die and more things continue to be destroyed, but there's a very real risk – there's a real risk here of escalation, of it spreading to some other place. Regardless, President Trump suggested he was open to a summit with Xi, and he talked not only about Ukraine, he said, but also nuclear. Do you have any patience that China is open to discussion on Trump's proposal? Well, the only way you're going to find out is to try. I mean, I know what they've historically said, but I don't know why it would be surprising. I think it's time for, I'm not saying you individually, but people need to grow up when it comes to foreign policy a little bit. I don't think it's unusual, frankly, for the three most powerful nuclear-armed nations on Earth, for their leaders to communicate with one another. I think it makes all the sense in the world. They may have strong disagreements about things. We also have a president, rightfully so, who does not consider talking to someone to be a concession. I hear people on the TV, oh, you're rewarding so-and-so by talking to them. Well, that's absurd. For example, how are you going to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine if you don't talk to Russia and Ukraine? You have to talk to them, right? So, I mean, that's the bottom line of diplomacy and negotiations. You have to be able to speak to the other side. So I don't think it's, frankly, I think if there's an opportunity and the President's expressed an openness to do it for the United States, Russia, and China at the leader level to have a conversation about things like arms control, that'd be a very positive thing for the world. That should be something the world is enthused by. Now, I imagine there's a lot of differences and disagreements between the three countries that are probably not going to be resolved in a summit like that. But there are a lot of important topics. And I think the world is a safer place when the leaders of the most powerful nuclear arsenals in the world are at least communicating with one another. So I don't know if China's willing to discuss it. I know what they've historically said, that they'll talk about it when they catch up with everybody else. But I think the fact we have a president that was willing to try is a good thing, something Americans should be proud and happy about.