Dem Senators Slam Marco Rubio Over Alignment With Trump: 'I Regret Voting For You For Secretary Of State'

Democratic senators criticized Secretary of State Marco Rubio for aligning himself with President Donald Trump's foreign policy views, noting during a congressional hearing the contrast between the views he held as a member of the Upper House and those he espouses at the moment.

The hearing, held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, grew tense after Senator Chris Van Hollen likened Rubio to Joseph McCarthy, known for accusing many of being Soviet Union infiltrates during the 1950s.

"In march you boasted about revoking student visas," said Van Hollen, who went on to single out the case of Rümeysa Öztürk. "Her crime was co authoring an op-ed in her college paper critical of Tufts University's response to the war in Palestine. Your own department found 0 links to terrorism, no antisemitic statements, but you still yanked her visa and shipped her off to detention in Louisiana, and the list goes on and on," the senator said.

"Our nation has seen times like these before, especially during the red scare. Like the McCarthy era witch hunts of the 1950s, your campaign of fear and repression is eating away at foundational values of our democracy. Back then it took one voice, Attorney Joseph Welch to cut through the hysteria with a simple question that marked the beginning of the end of that shameful era. Have you no sense of decency? And I would ask you the same, Secretary Rubio. You have shown, with your words and your actions what your answer is. I have yo tell you directly and in person that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State," he added.

Rubio reacted swiftly, saying "your regret for voting for me confirms I'm doing a good job." "I'm very proud of the work we've done with USAID," he added.

Senator Jackie Rosen also used her time at the microphone to call out Rubio: I'm not even mad anymore about your complicity in this administration's destruction of U.S. global leadership. I'm simply disappointed. And I wonder if you're proud of yourself in this moment when you go home to your family because i always found you a bipartisan pragmatic partner, a believer that the us is stronger when we lead with diplomacy and development. but i don't recognize secretary Rubio," she claimed.

The senators are not the first to make such claims. Rubio was also criticized after he reversed his position on Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, going from defending it to describing the designation as "harmful to U.S. national interests".

Rubio's shift is notable given his long record of supporting TPS for Venezuelan nationals fleeing the Maduro regime. In 2017 he urged the Trump administration to extend TPS to Venezuelans, stating it was not in the United States' interest to deport non-violent individuals back to the country.

Then, in 2019, Rubio co-sponsored the Venezuela TPS Act, being the only Republican to do so. After the Biden administration designated Venezuela for TPS in 2021, Rubio publicly supported the move and later pushed for expanded eligibility in 2022, warning that not doing so could be a "very real death sentence" for many Venezuelans.

In contrast, Rubio framed TPS in 2025 as a policy that "facilitates and encourages mass migration" and undermines border security. He also cited the presence of criminal organizations like Venezuela's Tren de Aragua as a justification for ending TPS, stating they "threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere." The issue dominated the conversation on Monday after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to effectively revoke TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, paving the way for their deportation.