Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday slammed a CNN report that asserts he is being overshadowed by Steve Witkoff, one of President Donald Trump’s closest friends.
“@CNN is an anti-Trump gossip tabloid that uses thinly sourced stories to generate clicks and try to make trouble. Witkoff is one of the people I work with the CLOSEST on our team. These people are pathetic,” Rubio wrote on X, sharing the CNN piece.
Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, is a key player in the administration’s efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip. He also recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
The CNN report said Rubio “has in some ways taken a back seat on the world stage to Witkoff” and that the former senator from Florida “appears ill at ease by how the White House has minimized his role.”
Witkoff told CNN he has a “wonderful working relationship” with Rubio.
“He is already a great Secretary of State and in my view will go down as one of the greatest,” Witkoff said. “Where the media gets these nonsense stories I will never know so I have now learned to dismiss them. Every single issue I am working on comes with the collaboration of Marco Rubio.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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