Tag: marco rubio

Report: Marco Rubio Imposter Calls High-Level Officials Using AI-Generated Voice

An individual posing as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly used an AI-generated voice to call high-level officials in what appears to be an attempt to manipulate government officials to obtain access to information or accounts.

The unknown Rubio impostor has so far reportedly contacted at least five government officials: three foreign ministers, one U.S. governor, and one member of Congress, according to a State Department cable obtained by the Washington Post.

The individual — whom authorities have not yet been able to identify — reportedly used AI software to send the government officials text messages that mimicked Rubio’s voice and writing style.

Authorities believe the imposter is likely trying to manipulate the high-end officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” the July 3 cable sent by Rubio’s office to State Department employees said.

The unknown individual reportedly began their impersonation attempts in mid-June, using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal under the display name Marco.Rubio@state.gov, which is not the Secretary of State’s real email address.

“The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” the State Department cable said.

It remains unclear if any of the powerful government officials responded to the Rubio imposter.

The cable also revealed that other U.S. State Department employees were impersonated via fake emails addresses.

The State Department told the Post it will “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future,” and did not disclose the names of the government officials who were contacted, nor the content of the faux messages that were sent.

Keep reading

Rubio Announces USAID Has ‘Officially’ Ceased Operations

Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Tuesday the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which had been rapidly dismantled earlier this year by the Trump administration.

In a blog post on the State Department’s website, Rubio wrote that foreign assistance provided by USAID had failed to deliver results for Americans and also said that the agency was part of the “globe-spanning NGO [non-governmental organizations] industrial complex” that was funded by taxpayers.

“USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” Rubio said.

“Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown. On the global stage, the countries that benefit the most from our generosity usually fail to reciprocate.”

Rubio wrote that as of July 1, the agency “will officially cease to implement foreign assistance” and that only assistance programs that align with the Trump administration’s priorities will be facilitated.

Democrats and a union representing foreign service workers have strongly pushed back against the dismantling of USAID, claiming that cuts to the agency would lead to a reduction in aid to poor countries and would ultimately put lives in danger.

But Rubio said in the blog post that USAID pushed anti-American ideas across the world along with “censorship and regime change operations” overseas and that it collaborated with NGOs that were “in league with Communist China and other geopolitical adversaries.”

On the day of Rubio’s announcement, the American Foreign Service Association union, which has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, said in a statement that USAID’s closure would cause the United States to lose its standing in the world and would impact the government’s capacity to wield “soft power.”

“Rather than engage in constructive conversations to lessen the devastating impact of these layoffs, the administration chose instead to inflict maximum pain and hardship through a barrage of questionable—and likely illegal—policies, accompanied by dismissive and dehumanizing rhetoric, all delivered with little thought to implementation or human consequences,” the American Foreign Service Association stated.

Keep reading

Rubio says it’s ‘irrelevant’ whether Iran was actively pursuing a nuke

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday it’s “irrelevant’’ whether the US had intelligence that Iran was actively pursuing a nuclear weapon before bombing it.

Rubio said the mere fact that Iran had “everything they need to build nuclear weapons” justified President Trump’s decision to take action against the theocratic regime.

“That’s irrelevant,” Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation” when pressed about US intelligence on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “They have everything they need to build a weapon.”

Earlier this year, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified, “The IC [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

President Trump has split with that assessment, and Gabbard has since contended her words were taken out of context and highlighted other portions of her testimony in which she warned about Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.

Keep reading

Marco Rubio Says ‘Vigorous New Visa Policy’ Will Prevent Israel Critics From Entering the US

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the US was implementing a “vigorous new visa policy” to prevent people from entering the US who are critical of Israel, which he conflates with antisemitism.

“We have implemented a vigorous new visa policy that will prevent foreign nationals from coming to the United States to foment hatred against our Jewish community,” Rubio said in a recorded video message to an Israeli conference on “combating antisemitism.”

Rubio said that the US will hold “international organizations and nations accountable for rhetoric against Israel.”

The Trump administration recently paused all interviews for foreigners seeking student visas as it prepares to expand vetting and screening of social media.

The Trump administration has been attempting to deport foreign students for protesting against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, activism that US officials have labeled “antisemitic” despite Jewish involvement in the demonstrations.

In one case, Rubio revoked the visa of a PhD student at Tufts University, Rumeysa Ozturk, for co-authoring an op-ed that called for her school to divest from Israeli companies. Ozturk was recently released after six weeks of detention and continues to fight against her deportation.

In a seemingly contradictory move, Rubio also announced a new policy to prevent foreign nationals who have been involved in censoring the speech of Americans from obtaining visas.

Keep reading

Rubio Announces Visa Restrictions on Foreign Nationals Involved in Censoring Americans

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 28 new visa restrictions against foreign nationals involved in censoring the speech of U.S. citizens.

“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Rubio announced in a post on social media platform X.

“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans. Free speech is essential to the American way of life—a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority.”

Rubio said foreign nationals involved in suppressing the rights of Americans shouldn’t be allowed to visit the United States.

“Whether in Latin America, Europe, or elsewhere, the days of passive treatment for those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over,” he said.

Keep reading

Marco Rubio Reveals Just How Little USAID Funding Was Helping the Needy

Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered some shocking data points about American foreign aid spending before the Trump administration reformed the system.

During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, the top diplomat revealed that the White House discovered a foreign aid regime that was distracted and inefficient.

Only 12 cents of every dollar spent by USAID reached recipients.

“That means that in order for us to get aid to somebody, we had to spend all this other money supporting this foreign aid industrial complex,” Rubio said, per a State Department transcript.

In other words, while a mere 12 cents went to recipients, the other 88 cents was pocketed by third parties.

“We’re going to find more efficient ways to deliver aid to people directly, and it’s going to be directed by our regional bureaus, and it’s going to sponsor programs that make a difference, and it’s going to be part of a holistic approach to our foreign policy,” he told lawmakers.

Keep reading

WHOA! Marco Rubio Announces He Has Located Dossiers Created by Biden Regime to CENSOR Americans Including Trump Officials: “There’s at Least One Person at This Table Today Who Had a Dossier On Them”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio dropped a bombshell today that should frighten every conservative nationwide.

As The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson reported, President Trump and his team held a cabinet meeting Wednesday. Team Trump spent a good portion of the meeting touting the president’s impressive record on issues ranging from immigration to the economy.

But amid the celebration, Rubio mentioned some disturbing information. He revealed that Biden’s Department of State had created dossiers with the full intention of spying on the content and censoring Americans’ free speech rights.

‘We had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans,” Rubio said.

Then, he dropped another bombshell. At least one of the people affected was at the table.

“And by the way, there is at least one person at this table today who had a dossier on them in that building of social media posts to identify them as purveyors of disinformation,” Rubio revealed. “We are going to be turning over these dossiers to these individuals.”

Keep reading

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Shuts Down US Censorship Agency Remnants

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has officially ordered the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) office, ending a controversial chapter in what he described as a “shameful” period of federally sanctioned speech suppression.

The move dismantles the only formal office in the department tasked with countering foreign propaganda but, as Secretary Rubio and many others have noticed, it had morphed into something far more troubling: a taxpayer-funded engine that repeatedly ended up silencing American voices.

“For centuries, the United States served as a beacon of hope for millions of people around the world,” Rubio said in a statement. “Over the last decade though, individuals in America have been slandered, fired, charged, and even jailed for simply voicing their opinions…That ends today.”

His decision to eliminate R/FIMI follows years of escalating concern over how programs meant to counter foreign disinformation have instead repeatedly targeted domestic speech.

The office, created in late 2024 as a scaled-down continuation of the now-defunct Global Engagement Center (GEC), claimed to focus exclusively on foreign influence campaigns. Yet evidence increasingly showed that both R/FIMI and its predecessor were entangled in activities that penalized Americans for their political views.

While framed as a defensive measure against foreign adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran, the actual outcomes of these efforts routinely involved actions that resulted in blacklisting American media outlets, throttling their reach online, and labeling dissenting opinions as dangerous misinformation. The censorship was indirect but impactful: through partnerships with nonprofits and tech platforms, GEC-funded projects influenced what Americans could say, see, and share.

Keep reading

The United States Can and Should Reduce Its Defense Spending

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended his first NATO foreign ministers’ meeting and was more concerned about European sensibilities than American interests. Unfortunately, Rubio embraced the past rather than promoted the future. It would be tragic if the MAGA revolution resulted in more of the same.

Rubio sought to reassure European officials who have begun to do more in their own defense because they have been discomfited by both Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Rather than intensify European fears that the Trump administration finally meant business, the secretary disclaimed any intention to leave the alliance: “The United States is as active in NATO as it has ever been,” he insisted. While speaking next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Rubio added: “Some of this hysteria and hyperbole that I see in the global media and some domestic media in the United States about NATO is unwarranted.” 

Indeed, Rubio suggested that Trump was apparently a secret alliance enthusiast: “We want NATO to be stronger, we want NATO to be more visible and the only way NATO can get stronger, more visible is if our partners, the nation states that comprise this important alliance, have more capability.” That doesn’t sound like the Trump that most of us know, but the new U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matt Whitaker, similarly opined that “under President Trump’s leadership, NATO will be stronger and more effective than ever before, and I believe that a robust NATO can continue to serve as a bedrock of peace and prosperity.”

In short, per the president’s aides, America plans on sticking around to protect the Europeans. Rubio insisted, “President Trump has made clear he supports NATO. We’re going to remain in NATO.” What the latter dislikes, Rubio explained, is states which lack the capabilities to fulfill their obligations. This is the same message that Joe Biden, both as vice president and president, routinely brought to the continent. Indeed, he spent years actively discouraging the Europeans from doing more on their own behalf.

In contrast, during his first term Trump reportedly told aides he wanted to withdraw from the alliance. His failure to act during the first few weeks of this presidency doesn’t mean he has grown to love what he once sought to delete. Of course, Rubio still echoes his boss in pushing other NATO member governments to do more. But without ill consequences for their failure to act, enthusiasm for reform is likely to quickly wane. After all, President Barack Obama’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, excoriated the Europeans for their lackadaisical attitude, but his message was drowned out by Biden singing a European variant of Bobby McFerrin’s hit tune “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” 

Nevertheless, the secretary has a tough sales job. Reported Deutsche Welle, “Rubio’s task of putting fellow NATO members at ease was made even harder on Wednesday when Trump announced tariffs that many fear could kick off global trade war. A 10 percent levy now applies to virtually all goods imported into the U.S. Goods from the European Union, which includes 23 of the 31 NATO member states, face tariffs of 20 percent.” The U.S. and Europe are struggling to remain friends, but just as in any other busted romance, Uncle Sam obviously no longer respects his partner. An unnamed European diplomat told the Associated Press, “We need to preempt a rapid retreat, but we’ve had nothing precise from the U.S. yet.” 

Keep reading

AIPAC leader boasts of special ‘access’ to top Trump natsec officials in leaked audio

The Grayzone has obtained audio of an off-the-record session from the 2025 Congressional Summit of AIPAC, the main US lobbying arm of the state of Israel. Recorded by an attendee of the panel discussion, the audio features AIPAC’s new CEO, Elliott Brandt, describing how his organization has cultivated influence with three top national security officials in the Trump administration – Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Director Mike Waltz, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe – and how it believes it can gain “access” to their internal discussions.

Joining Brandt on the panel was Dana Stroul, formerly the highest ranking civilian overseeing Middle East issues in the Biden administration’s Department of Defense. Stroul made it clear that defending Israel’s strategic imperatives from within the US government was a top priority, arguing that Washington should deepen its “mutually beneficial” special relationship with its “strong partner” in Tel Aviv. 

Stroul dismissed the bloodbath in Gaza as the result of supposed Hamas tactics which supposedly aim to maximize the amount of children killed by Israel. At the same time, she and her fellow Israel lobbyists fretted about the impact of the post-October 7 war on public support for the self-proclaimed Jewish state. She was particularly troubled by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ attempts to force votes on military aid packages to Israel which, in her view, should never be debated in the open. Another unidentified AIPAC panelist worried that pro-Palestinian academics could eventually influence AI knowledge systems, leading to a dangerous shift in national security policy unless they were decisively suppressed. 

The Congressional Summit was permeated with anxiety, as AIPAC leaders told rank-and-file members to hide their badges when they left the Marriott Hotel for fear they would be confronted by anti-genocide protesters. Other than a handful of sessions, such as a keynote address by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the conference was strictly off-the-record. 

With the cameras off, AIPAC leadership provided unusually candid details of their activities. In one revealing admission, Brandt explained how he and his lobbying organization groomed the future CIA director and other top Trump officials as pro-Israel assets.

Keep reading