QUESTION: For more on that and other questions, we're joined now by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will be with the President today. Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for joining us. Let's begin with the news —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
QUESTION: — around recognition of a Palestinian state. A number of U.S. allies have taken that step. I know you think the timing right now is reckless. Could you explain to those foreign ministers and also to the American public why you see it that way?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, I think at the end day, it's largely irrelevant what they've decided. There is no Palestinian state no matter how many papers they put out, and the only time there'll ever be one is if there is a negotiation with Israel, which right now is impossible because they have a war going on with Hamas, a terrorist group that butchered over 2,000 people on October 7th, two - just almost two years ago. And so as long as that's going on, the whole thing is irrelevant. It's almost a vanity project for a couple of these world leaders who want to be relevant, but it really makes no difference.
Now, I will say it actually - the impact it has had is it actually derailed - it made - talks that were going on, it made it even harder to get Hamas to enter into concessions that might have brought - brought this to an end. And look, we think there's a window of opportunity right now to pursue it. The only leader in the world really that can sort of broker that or bring that together is President Trump. That's why every country in the region - and frankly every country in the world, including many of those involved in this recognition effort - are begging the President to get involved in this issue.
We'll have a very important meeting today with majority-Muslim countries, including the Gulf kingdoms and others in different parts of the world, in the hopes of perhaps taking one last shot here at ending the conflict in Gaza, getting all of the hostages - all of them - released —
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: — and putting together in place something where humanitarian relief can be provided to people safely without rewarding a terrorist group like Hamas.
QUESTION: Yeah, people don't want to reward Hamas. They want the hostages back. They want humanitarian relief. When you talk about it, the President getting involved in it, I imagine that means peace and stability for the region and for Israel and for the Palestinians. Does that mean the U.S. is still a backer of a two-state solution? You see a path for that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, listen, the future of the Palestinian people living alongside the Jewish people in Israel is something that everyone knows is going to have to be negotiated. That has to be part of a much broader, more complex negotiation. From the Israeli standpoint, not only do you have to - if there's going to be a state, you need to know, well, who's the government of that state. Is the government of that state someone who's paying terrorists for carrying out attacks? Is that government someone that's allowing rockets to be fired against Israel? Because Israel's point is every time they've turned over land, it's been used as a launch point against Israel. That's how we get to October 7th.
I mean, that - Gaza was being governed by Hamas, and Hamas used it not as a country. They used - not as a place for people to live in building a society. They used it as a launch pad for one of the most brutal, horrific attacks —
QUESTION: Yeah.
SECRETARY RUBIO: — we have ever seen, in which people were raped, murdered, butchered, taken hostage. So we can never have that happen again. You're never going to have peace in that region as long as groups like Hamas exist.
QUESTION: Yeah, no, I understand. The Israelis want security, the Palestinians want dignity, and there's got to be a path forward. But let's move on to the other subject top of mind today, and that's Ukraine and Russia. In the last two weeks, you've had drones or jets from Russia fly into Polish airspace, then into Estonia, and now our European allies and NATO are saying: if that happens again, we're going to shoot these things down. If that happens, is the U.S. prepared to participate in shooting down Russian jets?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don't think anyone said about shooting down Russian jets unless they're attacking. I think what you have seen is NATO responding to those intrusions the way we respond to them all the time, and that is when they enter your airspace or your - your defense zone, you go up and you intercept them. And that's what NATO has done, and that's what NATO will continue to do. The United States is a partner in NATO, a member of NATO, an important member - the most important member of NATO. And I think yesterday at the United Nations, our new ambassador here, Mike Waltz, made very clear we will - we will work with our allies to defend every inch of NATO territory. That commitment remains firm.
QUESTION: Got it.
SECRETARY RUBIO: On the broader issue of the war, we think it should end; we want it to end. We want to do everything possible for it to end. Thousands of people are dying. It's a stupid, ridiculous war. It needs to come to an end, and the President is committed to doing whatever he can to end it. And if we can't get to that point where Putin is prepared to end it, then the President has very strong options available to him to impose costs. We hope to avoid that.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary —
SECRETARY RUBIO: We want this to end. But obviously his patient [1] is not indefinite.
QUESTION: Understood. I want to tuck in two more topics. You mentioned intercepting rather than shooting down the Russian jets. It brings up, in my mind, the question of what to do with these drug boats, alleged drug boats, coming from Venezuela. Very worthy goal, stopping the illegal flow of drugs into the U.S. I think the question a lot of people have, as the U.S. has - has exploded three boats now in international waters: Why not just stop them and board them to stop the flow of drugs?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Because interdiction doesn't work. You want to stop these drug cartels, you have to make clear to them they're not going to get their boats here. Interdiction - they don't care about losing a boat. They don't care about losing some drugs. They've already factored that into their business model. What will stop them completely is that they know if they go out there, they're not going to make the journey.
Look, this is an imminent, immediate threat to the United States. If you tell me there's a boat full of drugs headed towards the United States to drop off drugs here and poison our people, that's as big a threat as if some country was coming in to attack an American city. It needs to be stopped. The way it's been handled in the past hasn't worked. And boy, let me tell you something - you're not seeing nearly as many boats right now as you were a couple weeks ago. So it has worked and will continue to work. And the President's very simple - he not going to continue to allow these drug cartels to flood America with poisonous drugs that are killing our people indefinitely.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, as I hear you speak your mind, I ask you questions freely, it reminds me that all around the world, if you ask people what America represents, freedom is what comes to mind, freedom of speech in particular. We're at this moment with the issues around late-night television and what comedians are saying, where people on the left think the White House is cracking down on free speech, rescinding the First Amendment, and then you've got people on the right saying that that's just not the case. Can you level set for us: What is this administration's view of the First Amendment and its boundaries?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah - and look, I'm focused on foreign policy. That's my job as Secretary of State. There's been a long tradition in this role that you don't get involved in domestic political debates. I always have opinions; we all have opinions. I think the administration - I stand by whatever the administration has said on this and continues to say through our spokesperson, through the other relevant actors that are involved in these decisions. But there's been a long tradition in the office of Secretary of State that you —
QUESTION: But Mr. Secretary —
SECRETARY RUBIO: — focus solely on international issues, not domestic. And that's - again, if I wasn't in this role, I'd give you my opinion. I think people probably know what it is, but my job is to focus on international relations and foreign policy, and that's what previous secretary of states[2] have done.
QUESTION: All right. Mr. Secretary - and I would just say that I think a lot of people see how we treat free expression in this country as related to our reputation around the world, and therefore does touch your purview, but I do hear you.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, well, let me tell you something. I think people on your station, other stations, they say nice things about us, they say terrible things about us every single day. In no country in the world do people express themselves more freely. Some people say people express themselves too much. Everyone has an opinion, and you hear about it within milliseconds because of social media, and that's fine. That's who we are. No one's going to jail America this morning because of an X post or an Instagram post. There are countries around the world, including some of our allies, where people are being arrested for speaking their mind or saying something people don't like.
So I think - I'm not sure we should - we're in any position to be lectured by anyone around the world on free speech.
QUESTION: Well, that is true. I appreciate your time this morning. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, thank you very much.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.
