Secretary of State-designate Marco Rubio with Craig Melvin of NBC Today

QUESTION: Now to that first official member of President Trump’s cabinet. As Peter mentioned, the Senate voted unanimously on Inauguration Day to confirm Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, making him the first Latino to become this country’s top diplomat.

Secretary Rubio joins us now. Mr. Secretary, congratulations. Good morning to you, first of all, sir.

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: Thank you. Good morning.

QUESTION: As you know, President Trump, as you just heard there as well, pardoned nearly all 1,600 of the January 6th defendants. I recall that you said shortly after the attack on the Capitol, where you were that day, that it was one of the saddest days in American history. And then you went on to say this, Mr. Secretary: “My entire life with and alongside people who came to America fleeing countries plagued by political violence and by chaos. Today, America looked like the countries that they came here to get away from. Vladimir Putin loved everything that happened today because what happened is better than anything he could have ever come up with to make us look like we’re falling apart.”

Mr. Secretary, what message does pardoning nearly all of them send to the rest of the world?

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: Well, we’re going to focus on what makes America stronger and more prosperous and safer. I’m not going to engage in domestic political debates. I can’t at the – in the role at State Department, my job is to focus on the President’s foreign policy.

And it’s going to be a foreign policy that’s frankly as straightforward as any in modern times, and that is that every – the priority of the Department of State of the United States is going to be the United States, and that’s what we’re going to focus on is – today we’ll have a meeting with the Quad, with foreign ministers from Australia and India and Japan to reaffirm the importance of working with allies across the world on the things that are important to America and Americans.

And that’s what I’m focused on moving forward, and so – and I hope you guys will all understand. I mean, my days – at least in the time I’m at Department of State – of engaging in domestic politics will be put aside as I focus on the affairs that the United States has around the world and the engagements we have to have to make our country a safer, stronger, more prosperous place.

QUESTION: I want to talk about foreign policy in just a moment, but really quickly, I mean, who’s to say that if a crowd of folks who are displeased with something that happens at the Capitol in the future, who’s to say that they don’t just do it again?

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: Yeah. No, and I understand. But I mean, I’m not – I think it’s unfortunate our first engagement as I agree to come on this morning with you – I’m going to be working on foreign policy issues – and you want to revisit these issues that are going on in domestic politics. I’m just – it’s not going to happen.

QUESTION: All right.

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: If you have questions for me about foreign policy and engaging in the world, I’ll be happy to talk to you about those.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, let’s talk foreign policy then. Let’s start with Ukraine. As you know, President Trump has said the war in Ukraine would end on day one. Yesterday in the Oval Office, he pointed out that he still had a half day left to make that happen. You indicated yesterday after your confirmation that it was also a priority. Is there an imminent end to the war in Ukraine?

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: I think what the President has made very clear is that the war needs to end, that it’s the policy of the United States to end – to promote peace around the world. I think that’s a great thing. It should be lauded that the President wants peace. It’s a complex conflict that’s going on; there’s no doubt about it. It’s one that Russia started. Ukraine is suffering terribly from it.

But it’s going to be the official policy of the United States that the war has to end, and we’re going to do everything possible to bring that about and to help it end in a way that’s stable and sustainable. We don’t want to see it followed by another war in two, three, or four years. We want Ukraine – we want, as the President said when he was campaigning, he wants the dying to stop. He wants the destruction to stop. I think that’s in everyone’s interest.

Now, will that be easy? Will it be complicated? Of course, because every side is going to have to give something. But I think we should be happy that we have a President in President Trump that wants to be a promoter of peace and to end conflicts where possible and is willing to engage the power and the influence of the United States in that cause of bringing to the end conflicts such as these.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you just said that if – when the war ends, both sides are going to have to give up something. Hypothetically, if there is no consequence for Russia invading Ukraine, taking land and holding onto that land as part of some sort of ceasefire, what message does that send to other would-be bad actors?

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: Well, I think it’s important to note that there are already – Russia has already faced consequences. It faces crippling sanctions from all over the world. Inflation continues to rise and is ravaging their economy. They’ve lost tens and tens of thousands of lives. They have not achieved their initial objective, which was taking all of Ukraine all the way to Kyiv. So there’s already been consequences.

And there’s been horrifying consequences for Ukraine, who was victimized by this, obviously. But in the end, the reality is what we’re facing now is a stalemate, a protracted conflict stalemate in which massive damage is being done to Ukraine. And so I think the President should be lauded – President Trump – for saying that he wants to be a promoter of peace.

Now, again, it’s – as I said, it’s complicated. Both sides have maximalist goals here —

QUESTION: Sure.

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: — which are going to be difficult for either side to achieve. So these negotiations are complicated. But the only way conflicts like this end is not in press conferences. They end not in public pronouncements. They end with hard, vibrant diplomacy that the U.S. seeks to engage in in the hopes of bringing an end to this conflict that’s sustainable, in a way that assures the security of Ukraine and our partners in the region but that stops the killing and the dying and the destruction that we’ve been seeing for quite a while now.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, really quickly here. We only have a few moments left. I do want to talk to you about TikTok for a moment, because you have been quite outspoken about the threat that China poses to this country. For that reason, in part, you supported the ban on TikTok. As you know, President Trump now wants to create some sort of arrangement where the U.S., a U.S.-owned company, owns maybe 50 percent. If TikTok is still partially controlled by a Chinese company, how is that not still a national security threat?

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: Well, the law allows the President this period of time. And look, the way the law was structured is that it takes effect on the eve of an inauguration of a new president in the midst of a transition. And so what the President has done – and I think it’s prudent – is to say let’s put a pause on this. The law gives him the opportunity to go out there and see who’s out there, who wants to buy it, what’s available, what can be done.

I don’t – I think it’s frankly reasonable to expect that a new administration on their first day in office would need some time to look at an issue like this, weigh all of the security concerns, but at the same time figure out what arrangement can be made to allow a company to function in a way that doesn’t pose a threat to the United States, and that’s what the President’s done. So he’s executed on what the law allows him to do, and that gives him time to look at it and see how that plays out. And that’s a decision the President will make, and the law allows him that time to do it.

QUESTION: Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Secretary, thank you.

SECRETARY DESIGNATE RUBIO: Thank you.