Sec. Marco Rubio held a press briefing on Thursday in Turkey.
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00:00Just start asking, do that.
00:01Mr. Secretary, can I just ask you about tomorrow?
00:05It's been a little bit messy.
00:07When do the talks start?
00:08Will you be meeting with the Russian officials tomorrow in Istanbul?
00:11What will be the format of the talks?
00:12Will it be bilateral between Russians and Ukrainians, or will Americans be in the room?
00:17Well, first of all, I'll be meeting tomorrow with the Foreign Minister Fedan
00:21and a Ukrainian delegation, a senior delegation from Ukraine that will be in town.
00:27And so I'll meet with them.
00:30Someone from our team will be involved in the Russia talks.
00:33They sent a more lower-level group over here.
00:37I hope that those talks will be between Ukraine and Russia
00:41with our Turkish counterparts in the room,
00:44along with someone from our team or members of our team at the appropriate level.
00:50But I want to be frank.
00:51I don't think we don't have high expectations of what will happen tomorrow.
00:55And frankly, at this point, I think it's abundantly clear that the only way we're going to have a breakthrough here
01:01is between President Trump and President Putin.
01:05It's going to require that level of engagement to have a breakthrough in this matter.
01:09I don't think anything productive is actually going to happen from this point forward
01:13until they engage in a very frank and direct conversation,
01:17which I know President Trump is willing to do.
01:19Do you think that might have been close to a meeting between the two?
01:22Well, the President is impatient to end this war.
01:25He's impatient, as he's been clearly said, that something needs to happen soon.
01:30Too many people are dying.
01:31There's too much destruction.
01:33And I think he's ready to have that engagement and determine once and for all
01:37if there's a path forward and what that path is.
01:40And it's my assessment that I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here
01:43until the President and President Putin interact directly on this topic.
01:48But is there any pressure of a deadline on President Putin?
01:51Because I mean, it's two and a half weeks now since you said there wasn't concrete progress
01:55that you would, and you said at the time now, that you would withdraw as media.
02:00Well, we are not going to, we haven't been chasing this around the world anymore.
02:03I mean, that's already happened.
02:04We came because we were told that there, I was going to be here anyways, obviously,
02:08but we came because we were told that there might be a direct engagement
02:11between the Russians and the Ukrainians.
02:13That was originally the plan.
02:14You all heard the same thing.
02:15That was not to be the case, or if it is, it's not at the levels we had hoped it would be at.
02:19I hope I'm wrong.
02:20I hope they have tremendous breakthrough tomorrow.
02:22They talk, but I frankly do not believe that we're going to have a breakthrough here
02:26until President Trump sits face to face with President Putin
02:30and determines what his intentions are moving forward.
02:34What I can say with certainty is that the President's, look,
02:36he's willing to stick with us as long as it takes to achieve peace.
02:39What we cannot do, however, is continue to fly all over the world
02:44and engage in meetings that are not going to be productive.
02:46Again, I was scheduled to be here anyways because of the NATO summit,
02:50and so it just wound up working out that way.
02:53But the only way we're going to have a breakthrough here is with President Trump
02:57sitting face to face with President Putin
03:01and determining once and for all whether there's a path to peace and, if so, what it is.
03:05So it's just like, I don't mean to be glibber, but if that's the case,
03:11if there isn't going to be any breakthrough, is there any progress that you can make tomorrow?
03:17Or otherwise, what's the point from your point?
03:20We would hope so.
03:21Again, the level of team that was sent by the Russian side
03:24is certainly not indicative of one that's going to lead to a major breakthrough.
03:28I hope I'm wrong.
03:29I hope I'm 100 percent wrong.
03:30I hope tomorrow the news says they've agreed to a ceasefire.
03:33They've agreed to enter serious negotiations.
03:35But I'm just giving you my assessment, honestly.
03:38I don't think it's going to lead to that just because of the structure and how this has all played out.
03:42I think the next thing that has to happen here for there to be a breakthrough,
03:45if there's going to be one, is going to involve President Trump's direct involvement.
03:50And I believe the President shares my assessment.
03:53You say it was President Trump who urged President Zelensky to accept this meeting with President Putin.
03:59What is your definition of what happened since then?
04:02And how did they end up from having Zelensky with Trump and Zelensky with Putin meeting
04:07to actually expecting Trump to put him in?
04:10Well, again, it's not expecting.
04:11It's my assessment, which I think the President shares, that the only one who can break this logjam at this point,
04:17if it can be broken, is President Trump.
04:20He just wants to end the war.
04:21He doesn't care who gets the credit for it.
04:23He doesn't care who went first.
04:24He wants the war to end.
04:26He outlined this in his speech a couple nights ago where he talked about the fact that he hopes to live in a world
04:32where we are building, not destroying.
04:35And so that's what he's trying to do here is achieve peace.
04:38At the end, we all have to remember that this is the goal here.
04:40The goal here is not to claim victory one side over the other or to gloat about who outmaneuvered who.
04:45The goal here is to end a conflict where everyday people are dying.
04:48And the longer it takes to end this war, the more people will die.
04:51This war will eventually end with a negotiated settlement.
04:54It will not end with a military solution.
04:55The problem is that every day that goes by, and the longer it takes, the more people will die
05:00and the more destruction there's going to be.
05:02And that's what he's motivated by, 100 percent entirely motivated by bringing about peace.
05:07And that's what we endeavor to do here.
05:09And so it's my view, which I think the president has publicly shared as well.
05:13It's his view, I should say, which I share, that the only way we're going to get a breakthrough at this point
05:19after what's happened here is for the president to directly engage, probably at a personal level,
05:25and determine once and for all what it is the Russian side wants and whether peace is possible.
05:32Mr. Secretary, it was announced today that you're headed to Rome for the Pope's inaugural mass.
05:36Pope Leo, in different parts of his life, has spoken passionately about the plight of migrants.
05:41How do you reconcile what the Vatican has said on compassion for migrants with the Trump administration's policies?
05:46Well, first of all, the Pope is not a political figure.
05:49I know he's covered like one, but they're not.
05:52They're the earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church.
05:57And the Church has strong social doctrine teachings.
06:00And I think there is not incompatibility.
06:01We, too, are compassionate towards migrants.
06:03I would argue there's nothing compassionate about mass migration.
06:06There's nothing compassionate about open borders that allows people to be trafficked here.
06:10There's nothing compassionate about either, to the American people,
06:16about flooding our country with individuals that are criminals and prey on our communities.
06:21There's nothing compassionate about any of that.
06:22But I would caution all of you and everyone.
06:24I understand there's this temptation to cover the papacy as a political office.
06:28It is not a political office.
06:30It is a spiritual office.
06:31And it is one that has social teachings that are aligned with the faith and with the gospel.
06:38But I don't believe those are incompatible with a national policy that tries to prevent mass migration,
06:47which is not compassionate to people that are being trafficked into our country.
06:50And it's also not compassionate to people in the country who suffer gravely.
06:55When a million people come here illegally, if a thousand of them are dangerous criminals,
06:59those are a lot of victims.
07:00And that's not fair either.
07:01And that's not compassionate.
07:02So, by the way, I mean, and I don't mean this to be snarky,
07:06but the Vatican has rules about who can come in and who can overstay.
07:10So every place has that.
07:12It's just, it's what you do to protect your sovereignty.
07:15We are the most compassionate nation in the world.
07:17Every single year, a million people legally migrate to the United States permanently.
07:22Permanent residency.
07:23No other nation is nearly as compassionate as we are.
07:25We've been doing it for a long time.
07:26But it can't be five million people a year that come, you know, with four million illegally.
07:31That can't, that's just not sustainable, and there's nothing compassionate about it for Americans.
07:35Mr. Secretary, I was just wondering what the administration is doing at the moment
07:40to bring together President Trump and President Putin.
07:43I mean, are any messages being sent, and how soon you think such a meeting can happen?
07:48Well, I don't know.
07:49On the timeline of it, the president will have to determine that.
07:52And, I mean, there's no, this is just an assessment the president shared today, which I 100% concur with.
07:58And now we'll have to figure out how to operationalize that.
08:01So probably we will wait until he finishes with his trip, because the president's still overseas.
08:05We'll wait to see what happens tomorrow.
08:07And then those decisions will be made about a timeline and when and where those meetings would happen.
08:11Mr. President, I hope you respond to those critics who would question your position on this very, you know, policy.
08:21I mean, they're not critics of the U.S. then, they're critics of peace.
08:31We want the war to end.
08:32We don't, we don't, we want the war to end.
08:34We want to save lives.
08:35We want to stop the killing and the maiming and the destruction.
08:38That's our goal.
08:40I continue to be puzzled why anyone would be critical of efforts to achieve peace, which is what we're trying to achieve here.
08:47And the president feels like he has a unique opportunity, potentially, to be a catalyst for that.
08:52He's going to attempt to do it.
08:53So, in the end, you know, that, I think that what should be celebrated is that we have an American president, the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, who is attempting to be a peacemaker, not a war maker.
09:05And that's something that I think is commendable, not something that should be a subject of criticism.
09:09So, our goal here is to achieve peace, whether that begins with a 30-day ceasefire or a one-day ceasefire or a final deal that's all negotiated in one day.
09:19The process to us is less important than the outcome.
09:22And the outcome needs to be not just a peace, but a sustainable peace, a durable peace.
09:26That's our goal.
09:27That's what we're going to try to continue to achieve in any way we can.
09:30On that, just on that same theme about peace and Gaza, and I know the president has said today and yesterday, on the ground, I mean, there are more than 100 Palestinians killed today, 80 yesterday, two attacks on hospitals.
09:43We've had Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, urging the Security Council to prevent, in his words, genocide.
09:51Meanwhile, the families of many hostages are accusing the Netanyahu gun of trying to prolong the war for political reasons.
09:58What is your engagement with the Israeli government?
10:01Are you 100% behind the nature of the military action?
10:06And what is your own position, basically, on, as you do with Dean Alexander, talking directly to Hamas to get the rest of us?
10:14Well, let me just say, I spoke to the prime minister today of Israel.
10:18I know the president's been in contact with them earlier this week.
10:20The president talked about this in a speech the other day, that the people of Gaza deserve a better future than what they've had under Hamas.
10:27We think that the elimination of Hamas is what achieves peace.
10:31We're troubled by the humanitarian situation there.
10:34Both the Israelis, with American backing and support, have offered a plan to deliver aid that doesn't get diverted or stolen by Hamas.
10:43I've heard criticisms of that plan.
10:45We're open to an alternative if someone has a better one.
10:47But we are for all the aid we can get without Hamas being able to steal it from people.
10:52But I don't think, I think all of us would love to see an enduring end to this conflict, which, by the way, would end immediately if Hamas were to surrender.
10:59They're a terrorist group.
11:01They're a group that kidnapped, raped, murdered innocent people that had nothing to do with the war.
11:06And as long as they exist and they're around, you're not going to have peace.
11:10This is not a peaceful group.
11:11This is a group that deliberately, on October 7th, committed horrifying crimes, which has triggered this conflict.
11:17That said, we're not immune or in any way insensitive to the suffering of the people of Gaza.
11:22And I know that there's opportunities here to provide aid for them.
11:25There's a plan out there that's been offered that's been criticized by some.
11:28But it allows people to get aid without Hamas stealing it.
11:32And we'll continue to work towards that in ways that we think are constructive and productive.
11:36And what about the negotiations?
11:38Are you in direct contact with Hamas?
11:39And would you continue to do that if it's a way to get arrested?
11:44Well, I think anybody that tells you, there are obviously messages passed between intermediaries in the case of Hamas.
11:50There's obviously an external Hamas group and then there's an internal Hamas group as well.
11:55This is a terrorist organization.
11:56This is a murderous group that still continues to hold innocent hostages and the bodies and remains of dead hostages as well.
12:03They should all be released immediately.
12:04That's been our position from the very beginning.
12:06They should never have been taken to begin with.
12:08So, again, that continues to be our position.
12:12And there's a role we can play in bringing about the release of these hostages and the return of these remains to their families.
12:19And we have an opportunity to play a role.
12:20We will.
12:21I won't comment any further on the mechanics of it because I don't want to endanger them.
12:24But suffice it to say that we know there are others involved.
12:27The Qataris have been involved.
12:28The Egyptians have been involved.
12:29The Turks have been involved.
12:30Numerous countries have been involved in passing messages and getting results.
12:34And we're very happy to see Eden Alexander home with his family.
12:38It was very uplifting.
12:39But we recognize that there are still many others left behind.
12:42We want to see them all released.
12:44Mr. Secretary, on Syria, you met with the delegation today.
12:48Can you tell us your impressions?
12:50And also, did you get any reassurances on some of the requests you made, including asking all foreign fighters to leave the country?
12:57Yeah, look, I think that, obviously, this is a new relationship.
13:00We've now known each other and known them for 24 hours.
13:03So it's one that we think that a peaceful, stable Syria would be one of the most dramatic improvements in the region in a very long time.
13:16And we want to do everything we can to help achieve that.
13:18We have governing authorities there now who have expressed, not openly and repeatedly, that this is a nationalistic movement designed to building their country in a pluralistic society in which all the different elements of Syrian society are able to live together.
13:33They've expressed an interest in being at peace with all of their neighbors, including Israel.
13:38They've expressed an interest in driving out foreign fighters and terrorists and others that would destabilize the country and are enemies of this transitional authority.
13:45And they've asked for our help.
13:47And so we're going to try to help them.
13:49Now, obviously, we want to see progress made, and we'll take every step that they take, and it'll be a long road because it's been a long time.
13:55So we recognize that.
13:56But this is a historic opportunity.
13:58And if it succeeds, we'll have a dramatic transformative effect on the region.
14:01I would say that Syria is a place where people of different faiths and backgrounds have lived alongside each other for a very long time.
14:10It's only in the last 10 years under Assad's rule, brutal rule, where he gassed and murdered his own people, where he created chaos that allowed foreign fighters to flow into the country and use it as a playground to conduct external attacks, where Iran saw an opportunity to come in and sponsor their groups that turned it into a terrorist highway to empower Hezbollah.
14:30It's only in the last 10 years that you've seen 6 to 8 million people driven out of that country.
14:35So we want to be helpful.
14:36The president said if they want to take these steps forward, we're going to do what we can working with our partners in the region to help them.
14:43And I hope it's successful because if it is, there's two routes here.
14:47One will be success, and we'll have a major transformation in the region.
14:51Or you're going to have a brutal civil war that will destabilize the region.
14:54We would prefer the former, not the latter.
14:56And we're going to do everything we can within our control to help effectuate that.
15:03Ultimately, it will be up to the leaders there on the ground to make it happen.
15:05And they face some significant challenges, there's no doubt.
15:08The good news is that there are regional partners like Turkey, like Saudi Arabia, like Qatar, like the UAE, who are willing to contribute.
15:14And frankly, the lifting of sanctions, its first effects will be felt, not because U.S. dollars are going to flow in,
15:22but because our regional partners will now be able to flow in dollars that will allow them not just to stand up a government that can provide basic services,
15:29but also will allow them the work of reconstruction.
15:33One of the things they expressed today, and they're asking for our help, is to identify weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, and so forth.
15:42Identify these sites and remove them from the country.
15:44As they expressed today, they are victims of the use of chemical weapons.
15:48They don't want these chemical weapons stored in their country anywhere.
15:51But, you know, you don't just go in and grab a bunch of chemical weapons and put them in a truck.
15:55It requires technical expertise to both identify where they're located and remove them safely.
16:01And they've asked for our help in that regard, and we're going to be willing to provide it.
16:04On the lifting of sanctions, obviously that's a pretty complicated process.
16:08Do you have a timeline for how long you think that might take?
16:11And also, how much advance notice was the State Department and Treasury given to sort of start that wind down?
16:17Well, this was a road we were on, so we've been doing the work, the prep work for it.
16:21Their finance minister, we provided him a visa to travel to Washington, D.C. two weeks ago.
16:27Their foreign minister, we provided him a visa a week ago to travel to New York and met with our U.N. representative.
16:33I was scheduled to come here and meet today with the foreign minister.
16:37I was with the president when he made the decision to do this and included it in his speech.
16:41So we've been doing preparatory work in that regard.
16:43The core of these sanctions are statutory under the CESAR Act.
16:47I've had members of Congress and both parties ask us to use the waivers' authorities in that law.
16:54And that's what the president intends to do.
16:56Those waivers have to be renewed every 180 days.
17:00Ultimately, if we make enough progress, we'd like to see the law repealed,
17:03because you're going to struggle to find people to invest in a country when in six months sanctions could come back.
17:10We're not there yet.
17:11That's premature.
17:12I think we want to start with the initial waiver, which will allow foreign partners who wanted to flow in aid
17:18to begin to do so without running the risk of sanctions.
17:20I think as we make progress, hopefully we'll be in a position soon or one day to go to Congress
17:25and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions.
17:28Mr. Secretary, your comments on mass migration are obviously correct that it's not compassionate.
17:34The journey that migrants have to go on is obviously devastating.
17:37I think the concern that people have about compassion is that they think about the mega prison in El Salvador
17:45accused of torture and over-condensation of prisoners.
17:53And they say those are deterrent policies for sure, but they're not compassionate.
17:58I wonder how you would respond to that.
18:00No, those prisons, that's all anti-Bukeli propaganda.
18:04It's just not true.
18:05Do you always watch other respected organizations?
18:06Well, I mean, they hate Bukeli, and so they make these things up, and they can if they want to, but that's not true.
18:13The people that were removed from this country were dangerous criminals.
18:16These were not migrants.
18:17These were criminals.
18:18Okay, there's migrants or people that come here, they violate the law because they broke our immigration laws.
18:21Those people are deported to their home countries.
18:23These are dangerous criminals, which Venezuela would not accept.
18:26These were trained Aragua gang members and MS-13 members who are Salvadorian, who were deported to their country, and they're criminals, and their gang affiliation is a crime in El Salvador.
18:36And that's why they were able to – you couldn't even live in El Salvador.
18:39You couldn't walk the streets of El Salvador.
18:41Now it's one of the safest countries in the region.
18:43That's why President Bukeli has 90-something percent approval rating.
18:48But going back to your point, there's a difference between a migrant and a criminal migrant.
18:53And these are – if someone is in this country unlawfully, our law says you deport them to their home country.
18:59And most countries will accept their migrants.
19:00Some don't.
19:01But if you're a criminal migrant, then you're going to be deported, ideally, to your home country.
19:07But in the case of the Venezuelan gangsters, the Venezuelan regime wouldn't take them.
19:11So we had to find somewhere to send them.
19:12What they're not going to be is in our prison system because you know where prison gangs grow and metastasize?
19:17Inside of prisons.
19:18That's how MS-13 emerged out of the prison system of California.
19:21And then it migrated down to El Salvador and, of course, has had a presence in the United States.
19:26So I think that at the end of the day, I would be very careful about that because unlawful migration is one thing.
19:34Unlawful migration by criminal actors who come into this country and commit horrifying crimes is a whole different category.
19:41How long should I stay in prison?
19:43Who's this?
19:44The people that have been deported to El Salvador.
19:45Well, they need to go back to El—they're gangsters.
19:48And being a gang member is a crime in El Salvador.
19:50If they could be sent to Venezuela, Venezuela would accept them.
19:53President Bukele has offered to send them to Venezuela.
19:56And then there are MS-13 gang members who are Salvadoran.
19:59And those are also in that prison.
20:01We've deported some of them.
20:02And obviously, they're Salvadoran citizens.
20:05They're not American citizens.
20:06They are Salvadoran citizens, unlawfully in the United States, who are members of gangs.
20:10And they're under the jurisdiction of their nation's laws.
20:16So we're not going to opine on what their nation's laws are.
20:18And the case of the Venezuelan gang members, we would have sent them to Venezuela, except Venezuela wouldn't take them.
20:23It's just that they're in prison with no sentences being that process.
20:26So they could be no definitely.
20:27They're gang members that were in the country unlawfully.
20:29We offered to send them to Venezuela.
20:32The Venezuelans wouldn't take them.
20:33So we found an alternative location.
20:35Where they're not going to be is in the prison system of the United States,
20:38recruiting new gang members while in prison so they can come out and create even more crime in our country.
20:43Mr. Secretary, is Libya also an alternative place?
20:45We've had conversations with multiple countries.
20:48But I'm not going to comment on which ones they are at this point.
20:51Nothing's been finalized.
20:53The fact of your NATO engagement, is there some reports suggesting that you have opposed to inviting peasants
20:58and let's get to the next NATO summit?
21:00Is that accurate?
21:01No.
21:01I don't know where that's coming from.
21:03I don't know where that's coming from.
21:03Is it bringing back NATO-Russia council in the framework of Ukraine this country?
21:09That wasn't discussed today either.
21:11I mean, that might happen, but I haven't discussed that.
21:14On the first point, multiple members today of our colleagues and they're raised,
21:19Zelensky being invited.
21:21I talked – we didn't oppose it.
21:22I mean, obviously, he can – we're bringing the Indo-Pacific countries to NATO.
21:27We invited the Syrian foreign minister today to come here and meet with me.
21:32So many leaders who are not members of NATO are invited to NATO conferences.
21:37They're not at the leaders' meeting, but they're invited to the conference.
21:39So the same with our Indo-Pacific partners.
21:42But I don't know where you're getting these reports from.
21:44Can you speak to the outlook of the American Pope, how important this visit is?
21:49And what's your read on Pope Leo so far as a practicing Catholic?
21:53Can you tell what story John's working with?
21:55I've got 12 years of Catholic education.
21:57I mean, it's interesting.
21:58Yeah, I don't – listen, guys, I mean, maybe I just analyze this different.
22:01I'll tell you from – I'm a Roman Catholic.
22:04I believe that the Pope is the successor of Peter, appointed through apostolic succession
22:09and the intervention of the Holy Spirit through the cardinals.
22:15And the one thing I can tell you is that the only institution that was around 2,000 years ago
22:20that's still around is the Catholic Church, the universal church.
22:23And I have faith in that system.
22:25We've had very good popes.
22:26We've had bad popes.
22:27But we still have a church.
22:29And I think it speaks to the strength of the church and to the validity of it.
22:34And as a Roman Catholic, I believe it's because the pope, the bishop of Rome,
22:39is the inheritor of the power that was left to Peter by Jesus himself
22:45and has been passed down through the generations.
22:47No other human institution would have been able to survive the ups and downs the church has faced.
22:52What's kept it is that he's the rock.
22:53And upon that rock, he built the church.
22:55That's what I believe deeply, and that's how I analyze the situation.
23:00I just don't view him as a political leader.
23:02He may have political opinions, and the church has social teachings,
23:05which have informed much of what I say and have done in politics,
23:08especially in the last few years.
23:10I gave a speech at Catholic University in 2018 that was built on an encyclical by a Pope Leo.
23:18But again, I don't view the papacy as a political office.
23:21I view it as a spiritual one.
23:22Okay, thank you.
23:23Thank you very much.
23:24Thank you, everyone.