Secretary of State Marco Rubio is facing questions about the Trump administration’s fragile or stalling diplomatic efforts around the world in back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill for the first time since the Iran war began.

He testified that U.S. negotiators have seen signs that Iran’s new supreme leader has been engaged with negotiations despite not being seen publicly.

Also, Senate Republicans are meeting Tuesday to discuss next steps after the Justice Department said it would comply with a court order pausing the implementation of a $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate President Donald Trump’s political allies.

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Lights, camera, press briefing: The Dr. Oz show comes to the White House

Dr. Mehmet Oz is about to be in the spotlight. It’s a place where he’s already comfortable.

The heart surgeon and longtime daytime TV host, now running the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will lead Tuesday’s White House press briefing as the fourth administration official to stand in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt during her maternity leave.

Oz rose to prominence on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show before spinning off his own series, “The Dr. Oz Show,” in 2009. And though he now leads one of the Trump administration’s wonkiest agencies, he’s still found ways to use his camera showmanship to his advantage.

With social media videos and speeches around the country in recent months, he’s become one of the most public promoters of the administration’s efforts to fight healthcare fraud.

Democratic senator calls Rubio absence during US-Iran talks in Pakistan ‘embarrassing’

Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada called out her former senate colleague for being at a party while Vice President J.D. Vance led a delegation to Pakistan in April to meet with their Iranian counterparts.

Rubio was actually cage-side with Trump at a UFC event in Miami as the peace talks with Iran failed on the other side of the world.

“I just feel that’s embarrassing for us and it’s embarrassing for you,” Rosen said. “We confirmed you to be in the negotiations that are happening. And it’s just unthinkable to me that you are not you are missing high stakes negotiations or that you’re not involved. It’s sad.

In one of his more sharp rebukes, Rubio defended his absence.

“I was co-located with the president in the midst of a high stakes negotiation, so that I could immediately inform him about events occurring halfway around the world,” he said. “I was where I needed to be at that moment.”

Republicans offer first takes on Trump’s pick for intelligence chief

Some Republicans are voicing skepticism about the qualifications of President Donald Trump’s choice to serve as the acting director of national intelligence.

“I don’t see any evidence of qualifications for that job, but as you know, the Senate doesn’t have a role to play in acting (appointments,)” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said of Trump’s choice, Bill Pulte.

“I do not know Mr. Pulte at all. I do not know if he has any intelligence or military background. I don’t even know if he has a security clearance. I know nothing about him at all,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

Collins said she had not made a firm decision yet “because maybe there’s a lot in his background that is relevant to this important position.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said Pulte “doesn’t seem qualified.”

“Beyond his absence of apparent qualifications, maybe there’s something I don’t know about,” Cassidy said.

‘No one is begging’: Rubio defends US unsteady stance in Iran negotiations

In a tense back-and-forth, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker and Rubio argued over who has the upper-hand in the more than two month war between U.S. and Iran.

The New Jersey lawmaker pointed to the unsteady ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, which has been further tested in recent days by back-and-forth attacks.

“We are the strongest nation on the planet Earth, and we’re in a stalemate with Iran,” Booker said to the secretary. “And now we’re begging to get back into a deal that you all trashed in the first place.”

“There’s no one begging,” Rubio responded, detailing what he called the dire situation of Iran’s economy. “I don’t know where you’re getting this perception that Iran is stronger.”

Rubio says Afghan allies can’t come to US but will try to resettle them elsewhere

The secretary said he could not commit to Democratic Sen. Chris Coons to resettle more than 1,000 Afghans who assisted America’s war effort and relatives of U.S. service members to the U.S. as was promised under the Biden administration.

Rubio said the U.S. is in talks with multiple countries to take a few hundred of them in order to avoid sending them back to the Taliban where they will likely face reprisal.

Those individuals have been stranded at a U.S. base in Doha for the past year as the Trump administration’s immigration actions have left them in a limbo.

The refugees at Camp As-Sayliyah include Afghans who served as interpreters and with Special Operations Forces as well as the immediate families of more than 150 active duty U.S. military members.

Rubio says State Department decided a few weeks ago to reengage in the global vaccine alliance Gavi

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, questioned Rubio over last year’s U.S. withdrawal of funding from the global vaccine alliance Gavi amid the growing Ebola outbreak abroad.

In his response, Rubio said the State Department is taking matters into its own hands after letting Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist before entering office, have his say.

“The president had asked that we allow Secretary Kennedy to play a leading role on the Gavi decision because of his strongly held views with regards to vaccine safety and he wanted them to conduct some reforms,” Rubio said.

“We have certainly allowed him to play a leading role in determining what we’re going to do next but right now we are sort of at a stage where we are going to re-engage. We need to drive this to an outcome.”

Rubio says pressure from China is not holding up Taiwan arms deal

Rubio said a U.S. arms deal to Taiwan is not under review right now because of pressure from China, although he said the Chinese almost always bring up the issue in discussions with the United States and Trump has described it as a great negotiating chip.

“They are constantly talking about Taiwan arms sales, but that in no way is what is holding up our decision making or the White House’s decision making,” Rubio said. “It is something the president will have to decide on the timing of when and how that is executed on. It’s been approved by Congress, it’s been noticed, the money is available.”

Rubio added that the U.S. recently sold arms to Taiwan in December.

“So there are a variety of reasons why these things don’t happen immediately,” Rubio said.

Sen. Van Hollen questions Rubio suggestion of link between Cuba and Hamas

Van Hollen pressed Rubio on whether there’s any evidence to support his suggestion of a continuing link between Cuba and the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups in the Middle East.

Van Hollen noted that a thorough review by the intelligence community under the Biden administration had concluded there was no evidence that Cuba was involved in state-sponsored terrorism.

Rubio pointed to Cuba’s historical support of leftist and Marxist groups in the Western Hemisphere. However, Rubio didn’t answer Van Hollen’s question about whether the current administration had found new evidence of Cuba being a state sponsor of terrorism. “Why would I need new evidence?” he said.

Democratic senator tells Rubio that Trump foreign policy ‘has become a dumpster fire’

In a sharp diatribe against the status of U.S. foreign policy, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen blasted Rubio and his boss, Trump, for the actions taken in the year and a half in office regarding aid and foreign intervention. The Maryland lawmaker specifically took aim at the U.S. and Israeli decision to strike Iran, accusing Trump of entering the war on behalf of Israel.

“Netanyahu said he’s been waiting 40 years to do this. It turns out he finally found a president who was both stupid and reckless enough to join him,” Van Hollen said.

He then detailed the war’s impact, including the death of 14 U.S. service members and thousands of civilians, and the increase in gas prices.

“Let’s face it, Mr. Secretary, the Trump foreign policy has become a dumpster fire,” Van Hollen added.

New York sues Trump administration over deal to end offshore wind project

TotalEnergies is getting $1 billion — essentially a refund of its leases for offshore wind projects off New York and North Carolina — if the French company invests it in fossil fuel projects instead.

State attorneys general from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont joined New York on Tuesday in challenging the cancellation of the lease off of New York and the bulk of the payout.

“This administration cooked up a sham deal to pay a foreign energy company hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to abandon offshore wind and invest in oil and gas instead,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “We are fighting back to stop this illegal agreement that threatens to erase over a thousand union jobs and cheat millions of New Yorkers out of clean, affordable energy.”

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

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Rubio sees indications that Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘increasingly engaged’ with US talks

Detailing the fractured Iranian leadership, Rubio says U.S. negotiators have seen signs that Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father to become the country’s new supreme leader, has been engaged with negotiations despite not being seen publicly.

“I would imagine, given what’s happened to multiple leaders in that system, being very public is probably not something that’s recommended for them internally,” he said. “But that said, I think there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level, although all of his communications have been in writing and through intermediaries.”

Rubio says Iran will not receive sanctions relief for reopening Strait of Hormuz

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy pushed Rubio to see what incentives, if any, Washington is willing to offer Tehran in exchange for a deal.

Rubio said that any sanctions relief would have to come after major concession on the nuclear issue and the enriched uranium.

“Will they receive relief just in exchange for reopening the strait?” Murphy asked.

Rubio responded, “No, that’s not been discussed. That’s not been offered.”

US targeting criteria for alleged drug boats does not include narcotics on boat, Kaine says

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia pressed Rubio on why the U.S. military’s targeting criteria for attacking alleged drug boats in Latin American waters do not include drugs on the boat. Kaine described it as “odd” before adding that he can’t share much more because the targeting criteria are classified.

Rubio pushed back, saying that every strike follow’s a legal officer’s determination on whether a strike is legal or not. Rubio also said that the U.S. military has “walked away from strikes” multiple times because they did not meet the targeting criteria.

The U.S. military has attacked dozens of boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing roughly 200 people since early September. The Trump administration says the U.S. is at war with drug cartels, while many Democrats have questioned the legality and effectiveness of the strikes.

Senate Majority Leader says acting DNI Pulte would face ‘lengthy road’ to confirmation

Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, says he’s trying to get more insight from the White House about the decision to make Bill Pulte the acting Director of National Intelligence.

“I’m trying to get more information about the current state of their thinking about that position,” Thune told reporters Tuesday.

Thune said if the White House wants to nominate the real estate scion and Trump loyalist to that position permanently, he would have “a lengthy road ahead of him.”

Asked if he has concerns about a weaponized DNI position, Thune said “we don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there.”

Democrats blast Trump for picking Pulte as director of national intelligence

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Trump’s decision to tap his housing finance director as acting director of national intelligence, saying Bill Pulte is “a partisan thug with no experience in intelligence.”

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a lengthy statement that Pulte was picked because Trump “believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need.” He warned that a pick like this leaves Americans “vulnerable to a terrorist attack.”

Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said “it is critical that Pulte go through a full security clearance process before he walks into the building.”

Pope Leo’s AI manifesto sparks viral reactions: ‘Love my woke pope’

Shortly after Pope Leo XIV issued his sweeping manifesto calling for robust regulation of artificial intelligence, the Instagram meme account Saint Hoax posted this reaction to its more than 3 million followers about the pope’s call to “disarm” AI.

Similar reactions to Leo’s first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), seem driven by a perception among young people that few political or global leaders are taking seriously the ramifications of AI’s rapid rise.

The pontiff reiterates throughout the roughly 42,300-word document that the church must engage in contemporary questions and challenges. For Leo, that has included rebuking certain policies, actions and leaders, including Trump and the ongoing war in Iran. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, invoked the “just war” theory in response. Leo’s encyclical calls this church teaching “outdated.”

“Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness,” Leo wrote.

Rubio says while US is leading on AI, the technology could ‘destabilize societies all over the world’

In a very sober assessment, the secretary of state was clear-eyed about the innovation that artificial intelligence can have on the U.S. and global economy but also acknowledged that the emerging technology will also cause destruction to certain industries and white-collar jobs.

Those jobs will have to be replaced with new jobs or new skills, he said.

“That’s not just an economic issue. That is a political issue, that over time could destabilize societies all over the world. And so we have to start thinking about AI in those terms, as well,” he said.

Rubio won’t commit to not extending waiver on Russian oil sanctions

Shaheen, the committee’s ranking Democrat, pressed Rubio on whether the U.S. will extend a waiver on Russia oil sanctions. The U.S. has issued extensions for countries to import Russian oil that is already in tankers at sea in order to ease oil shortages caused by the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio said the decision will ultimately be made by the U.S. Treasury Department, “but I will tell you, it depends on the circumstances at the time.”

“We would like to end it as soon as we possibly can, because the underlying policy of this country has been to sanction their oil. These are time limited waivers for the purpose of opening up more global supply,” Rubio said.

Rubio to Congress: Iran has ‘agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program’

Pressed by Democrats and Republicans on the status of negotiations with Tehran, Rubio tried to present a more optimistic view on the progress Washington has made with the Iranian regime.

“They have agreed to negotiate aspects of their nuclear program that just a month ago, just a year ago, they were refusing to even mention,” he said. But he added that it’s “not a guarantee that ultimately it will lead to a deal that’s acceptable” by Congress. He said these negotiations have been made difficult by the instability of Iran’s leadership.

Israel, Lebanon begin new round of political talks in Washington as fighting surges

U.S. and Israeli officials said the talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States began on Tuesday at the State Department, as planned, despite intensified fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has thrown the already fragile ceasefire into new uncertainty.

The two days of talks — the fourth round of such direct discussions — follow a security meeting between the two sides that was held on Friday at the Pentagon.

None of the participants in Tuesday’s meetings spoke as they posed for photos before the talks began.

Shaheen lambasts Rubio for ignoring requests for information on Ukraine, Iran and more

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, lambasted Rubio in her opening remarks. She said his office has refused to provide information requested about the Trump administration’s changing troop posture in Europe as well as U.S. operations in Iran and American support for Ukraine.

“When you do notify Congress, it’s to inform us of decisions you have already made,” she said.

She also focused on the U.S. military’s declining stockpile of advanced weapons used in the Iran war.

Rubio set to testify as Senate committee hearing begins

James E. Risch, the Republican chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, kicked off Tuesday’s hearing, the first for the U.S. secretary of state since the Iran war began.

Risch has praised Rubio’s efforts to reduce illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

Rubio to be defiant on status of US foreign policy in first congressional testimony since Iran war

The former Republican senator is set to defend the Trump administration’s bulldozing of American soft power in his opening statement to senators Tuesday as part of an annual budget request hearing.

“The U.S. government is not a charity. We are not here to play social worker,” Rubio’s prepared remarks say.

The written remarks focus mostly on the Western Hemisphere, with no mention of the ongoing, sprawling U.S. operations in the Middle East.

They call the capturing of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro “one of the most extraordinary feats of lethal precision in military history.”

“We have made it clear to every government in this hemisphere that America can either be their greatest friend or their most feared enemy — the choice is theirs,” he added.

Rubio enters Senate briefing room to chants from protesters

Rubio faced chants from protesters who urged him to “stop killing Cubans” when he entered a Senate briefing room Tuesday.

The protesters were quickly pulled from the room. Their chants also included “Let Cuba live!” as well as, “Repent Marco Rubio. God will forgive you for your sins. Stop killing Cubans.”

Rubio is sitting at a table staring into the lenses of media photographers.

Protesters arrested outside Rubio hearing

A small number of protesters who were lined up outside a Senate briefing room where Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to testify before Congress have been arrested.

The group chanted “Rubio lies. People with AIDS die” as well as “One child dies every 30 mins.”

A small number of other protesters, who were not arrested, have found seats in the back of the room where Rubio is to provide testimony at 10 a.m.

Judges and grand juries have rebuffed Pulte’s accusations against Trump rivals

Pulte has used his perch as FHFA director to make a succession of criminal referrals against political opponents of Trump related to allegations of mortgage fraud.

One such referral centered on New York Attorney Letitia James, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing. A prosecution against her was dismissed in November after a judge concluded that the prosecutor who filed the charges was was illegally appointed. Prosecutors have tried several times since to bring a new case but have been rebuffed by grand juries.

Other referrals made by Pulte, including against Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, have not yielded any criminal charges. Lawyers for both have denied any claims of wrongdoing.

Pulte has raised his profile by attacking Trump’s rivals

Pulte has mainly trained his sights on Trump’s domestic rivals. He targeted Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting the central bank’s benchmark interest rates as aggressively as the president wanted, and led a protracted campaign against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who angered Trump by prosecuting him in court.

It’s unclear what national security expertise Pulte has, but the attention-seeking and hyper-online millennial has become a major player in the Trump administration, and a frequent guest on Air Force One as Trump has traveled to Mar-a-Lago, his home and club in Florida.

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Pulte is a loyal Trump aide who lacks intelligence agency experience

The position, which involves overseeing and coordinating the country’s 18 intelligence agencies, is one that requires Senate confirmation.

With the appointment, Trump, who has long the nation’s intelligence agencies with suspicion, is foregoing a director with experience in sensitive intelligence and national security matters and is instead selecting a loyal aide who made a career in the homebuilding industry and cultivated a combative social media presence.

Gabbard was seen as an unconventional pick, but she was a former congresswoman who had served in the military.