Rubio takes on dual national security roles after embracing Trump's 'America First' vision

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been thrown into two top national security jobs at once as President Donald Trump presses forward with his top-to-bottom revamp of U.S. foreign policy, upending not only longstanding policies that the former Florida senator once supported but also the configuration of the executive branch.

Trump's appointment of Rubio to temporarily replace Mike Waltz as national security adviser is the first major leadership shake-up of the nascent administration, but Waltz's removal had been rumored for weeks — ever since he created a Signal group chat and accidentally added a journalist to the conversation where top national security officials shared sensitive military plans.

So, just over 100 days into his tenure as America’s top diplomat, Rubio now becomes just the second person to hold both positions. He follows only the late Henry Kissinger, who served as both secretary of state and national security adviser for two years under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970s.

Rubio — a one-time Trump rival and hawkish conservative who was derided by the president as “Little Marco” during the 2016 presidential campaign — has proven adept at aligning himself with Trump’s “America First” foreign policy positions. Rubio has largely eschewed his staunch advocacy of providing foreign aid and promoting democracy overseas since taking over the State Department, repeating a refrain that every policy or program should make America safer, stronger or more prosperous.

Since being confirmed in a 99-0 Senate floor vote, Rubio has presided over a radical reorganization of the State Department. That includes the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and plans to cut U.S. jobs by 15% while closing or consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide. He has also begun a major cull of the visa system, revoking hundreds, if not thousands, of visas issued to foreign students.

He has overseen the negotiation of agreements to send immigrants accused of crimes to third countries, most notably to El Salvador, in cases that are now being challenged in federal courts.

“Marco Rubio, unbelievable," Trump said Thursday before announcing on social media that Waltz would be nominated as ambassador to the United Nations and Rubio would take over as national security adviser in the interim. "When I have a problem, I call up Marco, he gets it solved.”

That's a far cry from 2016, when Rubio and Trump were competing for the GOP presidential nomination and Rubio warned that Trump was a threat. After Trump won, the relationship remained contentious, but eight years later, Rubio was an enthusiastic Trump supporter who worked his Florida bona fides to get into the president's inner circle.

Yet, even after Rubio was nominated to the top diplomatic job, doubts remained. Many pundits suggested he would last only a short time in office before Trump dismissed him in the same way he did his first-term secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who was fired by tweet in 2018 just 18 months into the job.

Yet Rubio has been resilient. And as of Thursday, he oversees both the State Department and the National Security Council, which is responsible for coordinating all executive branch foreign policy functions, ranging from diplomatic to military and intelligence operations.

Thomas Wright, an NSC official during the Biden administration who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the national security adviser post alone is “more than a full-time job.”

“It is just very hard to comprehend the idea that you can do this job sort of part time,” Wright said.

He said he watched national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy work 14-15 hour days, six to seven days a week: “I think they felt that they had to do that to do the job properly.”

Appearing Thursday night on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity," Rubio was not asked to weigh in on the president’s decision to tap him as national security adviser but did joke that he was barred from adding pope to his list of many jobs because he is married.

But as he marked the first 100 days of Trump's latest term, Rubio applauded the president for his vision.

“I am honored by the trust President Trump placed in me and I am proud of the work the Department of State has done over the past hundred days to implement his agenda and put the American people first,” he wrote Wednesday in a State Department Substack post.

One of Rubio’s former Florida statehouse colleagues, Dan Gelber, a Democrat, said of Rubio's increasing responsibilities that "Marco is probably, to a certain extent, one of the more reliable Cabinet officers, if not the most reliable."

“And I can only believe those qualities are even more vital to his current confluence of positions and growing portfolio,” Gelber said. "He’s not a chaos guy, and I’ve always sort of wondered how he’s going to do in an administration where there seems to be so much chaos. And maybe that’s why he’s getting all these positions.”

Rubio's dual-hatted role comes on top of him serving as acting administrator of the largely shut down USAID and as acting head of the National Archives. It puts him in a similar position to that of Trump's longtime personal friend and golfing buddy Steve Witkoff.

As a special envoy, Witkoff is the lead U.S. negotiator in the Iran nuclear talks and in administration peace efforts for the Israel-Hamas war and the Ukraine-Russia war.

In many ways, Rubio and Witkoff are following in the footsteps of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had multiple roles in the first administration, ranging from the Middle East to Latin America and immigration.

State Department officials appeared taken aback by Trump's appointment of Rubio as acting national security adviser. Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said at a briefing Thursday that she learned the news from a journalist who asked her a question about Trump's post minutes after it appeared on social media.

Officials, however, have noted that Rubio in recent weeks has spent an increasingly large amount of time at the White House away from his posh seventh-floor State Department office in what is known as “Mahogany Row,” a corridor known for its wood paneling.

At the same time, these officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the personnel shift, said they did not expect Rubio's duties as secretary of state to change significantly. He still plans to travel on diplomatic missions abroad and likely will delegate at least some of the NSC management to others, they said.

Amiri reported from the United Nations.

President Donald Trump speaks as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from front row left, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and from front row right, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent listen during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from left, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral luncheon with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Washington. With the President from left are National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, stands with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot at the State Department, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington, as President Donald Trump look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't scoring the way he usually does, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are still winning the way they normally do.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP, averaged 31.1 points during the regular season. In the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Lakers, he is averaging 20 points and taking only 14 shots per game.

Oklahoma City has still won the first two games by an average of 18 points. Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren each scored 22 points, and the defending champion Thunder beat the Lakers 125-107 on Thursday night.

Ajay Mitchell, starting in place of injured Jalen Williams, is averaging 19 points on 50% shooting in the series for Oklahoma City.

“I think the coaching staff does a good job at just getting all of us ready,” said Mitchell, a second-year guard. "And we have a lot of competitors. Like, everyone’s a competitor on our team. So every time the lights are bright, everyone’s ready to go.”

Holmgren is the leading scorer for the Thunder in the best-of-seven series with 23 points per game. The 2026 All-Star also is averaging 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks.

Jared McCain, a midseason acquisition from the Philadelphia 76ers, barely played in the first round against Phoenix but has averaged 15 points and made 8 of 10 3-pointers in the series.

“He goes in there, stays in character, stays aggressive," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "He’s going to shoot the next shot. He makes the right plays, plays inside the team. He competes defensively, has had good defensive possessions for us. And he was huge tonight. You need that in a playoff series.”

The Lakers again were without scoring champion Luka Doncic, who is out indefinitely with a strained left hamstring. They also were missing forward Jarred Vanderbilt, the reserve forward who dislocated the pinkie on his right hand during the second quarter of Game 1. The Lakers had three players finish with five fouls, limiting their aggressiveness late in the game.

Los Angeles guard Austin Reaves, who struggled with his shot in Game 1, scored 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting in Game 2. LeBron James, coming off a 27-point effort in Game 1, followed that up with 23.

With the Lakers up 63-61 early in the third quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander got tied up with Reaves and was called for his fourth foul. Upon review, it was upgraded to a flagrant 1 for Gilgeous-Alexander's follow through. Oklahoma City's Alex Caruso was called for a technical foul as the situation was being sorted out.

Gilgeous-Alexander left the game with the Lakers up 65-61, but the Thunder rallied and took control without him. On a fast break, Holmgren found a trailing Jaylin Williams, who hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. His free throw put the Thunder up 85-74.

The Thunder outscored the Lakers 32-15 while Gilgeous-Alexander was out in the third quarter to take a 93-80 lead into the fourth.

“It was amazing," Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They strung together stops, they’re playing the right way offensively and things are going their way. Full confidence in those guys. They know how to win basketball games. And we've proven that. They’ve proven that no matter who’s on the floor, they know how to get the job done. And they just did it again tonight."

The Lakers cut Oklahoma City's lead to five in the fourth quarter before the Thunder pulled away again.

Los Angeles will host Game 3 on Saturday.

“We just stuck with it,” Holmgren said. “It’s the game of basketball. It’s not always going to go your way. It’s about how you respond. And this team has proven many times that we know how to respond. And we did so tonight.”

This story has been corrected to show that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 20, not 19, points per game against the Lakers.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren (7) shoots over Los Angeles Lakers' Austin Reaves (15) in the second half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell, front, works for a shot as Los Angeles Lakers' Austin Reaves, rear, defends in the second half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James stands on the court in the second half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) drives to the basket past Los Angeles Lakers' Deandre Ayton (5) and LeBron James, rear, in the second half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (7) works to the basket against Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura (28) in the second half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA basketball playoffs series Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)