Marco Rubio delivers master class on how to handle hostile media fresh off confirmation

Newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio isn’t taking George Stephanopoulos’ bait.

The long-time journalist attempted to pull a fast on one Rubio when he brought up a previous statement made by the then-Florida senator about the events of January 6th.

“You called it a national embarrassment,” Stephanopoulos reminded Rubio, “saying, ‘we now have third-world countries that are lecturing us, and tinpot dictators that are mocking us.’”

Stephanopoulos asked Rubio “what message” does Trump’s J6 pardons send to his “foreign counterparts” around the world?

“I don’t anticipate a single one of our partners will ask about it, obviously,” Rubio shot back. “My job is to focus on the foreign policy of the United States. I have a different job this morning and a different focus. I won’t be opining on domestic matters at this point.”

Rubio’s appearance came fresh off the Senate’s unanimous vote to confirm him on Monday and he seemed prepared for the grilling.

When Stephanopoulos pressed further, asking Rubio if he no longer believes that Jan. 6 affects “our standing in the world,” Rubio reiterated his mission as the new Secretary of State.

“Well, as a senator, I had an opinion on all kinds of domestic matters,” Rubio said. “But now, I’m focused singularly on foreign policy and how I interact with our allies. For example, my first meeting right out of the box, as soon as I’m sworn in and get over to the State Department, is what the members of the so-called quad, which are important allies in Australia, and Japan, and India. And we’ll be talking to them and we’ll be focused on that. None of these domestic topics are going to come up.”

President Trump granted roughly 1,500 pardons for January 6 protesters, many of which were guilty of soft crimes like trespassing, but were dealt cruel and unusual punishments.  And of course, there was the flurry of last-minute pardons Biden delivered for his family members. But, let’s not talk about those, according to at least one X user responding to Stephanopoulos.

And there was plenty more backslash for ABC:

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