May 14, 2026 • 34 mins
Sean Hannity interviews Secretary of State Marco Rubio aboard Air Force One during the trip to China, covering the administration’s foreign policy approach, U.S.-China competition, Iran, Taiwan, rare earths, intellectual property theft, and America’s need to rebuild domestic industrial capacity. Rubio explains that China is both America’s top geopolitical challenge and one of the most important relationships to manage, while stressing that the U.S. must protect its interests without drifting into unnecessary conflict. The interview also covers Iran’s nuclear threat, the Strait of Hormuz, Venezuela, Cuba, Ukraine’s battlefield innovation, Pope Leo, NATO, and the Trump Doctrine of engagement rooted in American security, prosperity, and strength. Mark Simone closes the hour by praising Rubio’s command of foreign policy and previewing Sean’s exclusive interview with President Trump from China.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Well, we have come out.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Your city, get you a confide, well besied, and if
you want a little banging, I come along. The American
Revolution was against the billionaires of their time.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
The tax system as we have it is fundamentally unjust.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We are speaking about living in the wealthiest city, in
the wealthiest country in the history of the world, where
one in for New Yorkers are living in poverty.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
And we are going to have to explore massive judicial
reform state by state and at the federal level. And
everything should be on the table. As far as I'm concerned,
freedom is back in style. Welcome to the revolution.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Away of coming to your center way again and saying
you a conscious saw.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
New Sean Hennity show, more me I'm the scenes, information
on freaking news and more bold inspired.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Solutions for America.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Here we are on board
Air Force one. We're headed to China. These meetings are
very critical. I mean, my first question, do you view
China as our top geopolitical foe?
Speaker 7 (01:34):
Yeah, it's both our top political challenge geopolitically, and it's
also the most important relationship for us to manage. I mean,
it's a big, powerful country, it's going to continue to grow,
but we're going to have interests of ours that are
going to be in conflict with interests of theirs, and
to avoid wars and maintain peace and stability in the world,
we're going to have to manage those. They're clearly areas
(01:56):
where they're so important for the United States that you
we're going to have to raise those issues and we'll
continue to do so. The President's going to continue to
do so. There might be some areas of cooperation too,
and we want to make sure we don't walk away
from those.
Speaker 6 (02:08):
You know, it's interesting the one thing the President always says,
he's America first. He understands President Chies is going to
be China first. Putin will be Russia first. I think
having that understanding is a little bit unique and historically
speaking as if we should be surprised that they put
their country of ours.
Speaker 7 (02:29):
Actually, foreign policy and national security matters work best when
you understand that point. Every country should do what's in
the best interest of their country, and then where there
are areas of alignment, where what's in our best interest
and their best interests are aligned, that's where you have cooperation.
That's where you have alliances. That's where you have strong
bonds of friendship. When there's conflict, that's between what they
(02:51):
want and what we want, that's where the work of
diplomacy and these personal.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Relationships between the leaders are so critical.
Speaker 7 (02:57):
And there are times when some of those issue of
conflict are irreconcilable. I think Iran is an example of that.
Their clerical regime wants to have a nuclear weapon and
the world, led by President Trump, says that's completely impossible,
cannot happen. So unfortunately, there's some areas like that where
it comes up. But there are areas where if we
can find areas of commonality, that's very powerful and important.
(03:20):
But we will have to manage these bilateral differences because
they're very significant. And when it's two big, powerful countries,
you know that falling apart at have tremendous significance on
the global economy and on global peace.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Want to get back to Iran in a second, let
me stay out in China, trade tariffs, intellectual property, theft Taiwan.
Their help of Iran, I think is part of it.
Speaker 8 (03:43):
Also.
Speaker 7 (03:44):
Yeah, all those topics will come up, there's no doubt
about it. In the case of the Indo Pacific, Taiwan,
and so forth. It's not in China's interest or anyone's
interests for there to be any sort of force change
in the status quo.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I think stability there is very important.
Speaker 7 (03:56):
We've made clear to them, you know that any support
for Iran would obviously be detrimental for our relationship. That
obviously is going to come up in this conversation on trade. Look,
the United States is very clear we have to be
able to make our own stuff. We cannot depend on
China or any country for that matter, for one hundred
percent of anything that we need. You know, when you
depend on any other country for one hundred percent of
(04:17):
what you need, you're very vulnerable. Likewise, you know, China
wants to they want China wants the world to be
dependent on them for one hundred percent because it gives.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Them strength and leverage.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
So that's a perfect example of an area in which
our interests are not aligned. But the President's very committed
to bringing back factories, bringing back industrial capacity to the.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
United States, and diversifying.
Speaker 7 (04:36):
Where we get our rare earth, our critical minerals, our
supply chains.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
You know, President Trump has described President she to me
in interviews as stoic, all business, no niceties in that sense,
although there will be a state dinner. Now I know
this is your first trip to China, but not.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Your person go around with China. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (04:58):
Well, look, their system is very disciplined, it's very focused.
When you speak to them, they have an agenda, They
go through that agenda. The president's style is quite different.
But they seem to have a very good at least
the interpersonal relationship, and that's important.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Look that the differences.
Speaker 7 (05:13):
Between the countries remain, but the ability to manage it
becomes not easy, but easier when the heads of state
have a good working relationship and they seem to.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
Yeah, well I think so too. What would you say,
what is your read on President Chi?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I mean you read that.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
Their economy is struggling. You read that he's isolated. You
read both Putin and President She have a pretty high
degree of paranoia. What is your read as you look
at President She from a distance going into the meeting.
Speaker 7 (05:45):
Yeah, I think my read has been what I think
has been for a while, and that is China has
a plan.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
I mean, they.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
Clearly view themselves. They believe they will be the world's
most powerful country. They'll sur pass the United States, and
they have a plan to do it, and they're executing
on that plan, and I don't blame them. If I
were the Chinese government, I'd have the same plan. We,
on the other hand, don't view it that way, and
we don't want to see anything that We're not trying
to constrain China. But their rise cannot come at our expense.
(06:11):
Their rise cannot come at our fall. So there's an
area where we're just going to have a difference of opinion.
But my view of them and of the government in
China as they're very confident.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
They have a.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
Plan and they're trying to execute on that plan, which
is fine. I understand that from a nation state perspective,
but where that plan is in conflict with the national
interest in the United States, we need to do what's
right for the United States, and that'll come up on
this trip, but more importantly, that'll be a feature of
this relationship for a long time.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
If you had it's kind of hard, it's not a
fair question to ask, but if you had a goal
coming out of this summit, because this is a big
deal that you're going that the President is going, the
Secretary of Defenses on this plan and so many others,
and every top business leader in America is going on
this trip.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
If you had a goal what you would like, you
would say it would be. How would you define a
successful trip?
Speaker 7 (07:02):
Well, I think it's already a success because we're going
and we're going to be able to talk to them
as opposed to at them. You know, one thing is
to exchange phone calls, and another thing is to put
out messages and press releases and statements. But when the
leaders are actually engaging personally, not just the president the president,
but me with their foreign minister, and Pete Hegseth with
their defense minister and so forth, it creates channels of
(07:24):
communication that can prove valuable in a time of potential
conflict or whether there might be heightened tension.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
So that's important.
Speaker 7 (07:32):
I also think, and we're not prepared to announce this yet,
but there are a couple of unique areas of cooperation
that we can work together on. The obvious ones are
obviously fentanyl precursor production, which China, because their system can
do this, can really crack down on that that would
help lower fentanyl deaths in the United States. And there
are a couple other areas of international relations where perhaps
we intend to talk to them about discreetly, we're not
(07:53):
going to announce it in the media, but areas that
we both share some concern over.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
I have a friend of mine, it's a great inventor,
and the level of intellectual property theft not just impacted
its entire business, but it's impacting many American companies.
Speaker 7 (08:11):
Big issue, that's right, an enormous issue, and one that
we're going to continue to raise. Even as we try
to protect our companies and our competitive advantage. We're going
to raise that with them. I don't think there's any
point in denying that. The fact of the matter is
that a lot of the advancements, not all, but a
lot of the advancements you've seen in the commercial sector,
in the industrial sector, and the technological sector in China
(08:32):
is a intellectual a product of intellectual property theft and
or reverse engineering, which is the same thing of our
own technology. So that has to be addressed. But I
also think we can't only rely on that. We have
to stay ahead of the curve on innovation. You know,
one thing is if you're you're stealing or taking the
stuff that was cutting edge five years ago, but the
things that are going to be cutting edge five years
(08:53):
from now, we've got to continue to invest and push
our companies to continue to stay ahead of the of
that pace off and continue to lead the world in innovation.
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Maybe the best way to transition to the issue of Iran,
which I want to ask you about, is that China's
both public statements and their actions. Although it was interesting
that an I that a Chinese tanker got hit in
the straight over moves, but obviously they've been taking a
very different position.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
You keep reading the.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Intelligence is showing they've been helping the Iranians. Obviously it's
more important to them that We've.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Made the argument to the Chinese, and I hope it's
compelling and they'll have a chance to do something about
it at the United Nations later this week when there's
a resolution just condemning Iran on what they're doing with
the streets. Look, there's three things. The Chinese have ship
stuck in the Persian Gulf because setting up a system
that says we're going to let certain ships through but
others not, it's easier said than done. And you saw
(09:51):
a Chinese not Chinese flag vessel, but it was a
Chinese cargo got hit over the weekend. I'm sure Iron
didn't do it deliberately, but they did it. It happened,
and so that's why these Chinese ships are stuck in there.
The second is I don't think that that China. It's
a huge source of instability. It threatens to destabilize Asia
more than any other part of the world because it's
heavily reliant on the Straits for energy.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And the third.
Speaker 7 (10:13):
Reason is because China's economy is export driven, meaning their
economy is fueled not by what they consume domestically, but
by what they make and sell to other countries.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, if all the countries of.
Speaker 7 (10:23):
The world economies are melting down because of this crisis
in the Straits, they're going to be buying less Chinese product,
and the Chinese exports are going to drop precipitously.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So it's in their interest to resolve this.
Speaker 7 (10:34):
We hope to convince them to play a more active
role in getting around to walk away from what.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
They're doing now and trying to do now in the
Persian Gulf.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
You know, I thought you had a lot of jobs
by being the Secretary of State and the NSA you
know of the NSA, then you have to go in
and become White House Press Secretary.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
No, no's hairline is irreplaceable.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I was just a pitching. It seemed that you like it.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
It seemed like you have in.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Five Well, yeah, I don't know. I'd have fun if
I had to do it every week.
Speaker 7 (11:03):
But one timing too bad and I enjoyed it, you know,
And it was it was about foreign policy mostly, so
I was honored to be able to do it. But
we can't wait till Caroline gets back to a beautiful baby,
and we wish her the best, but we can't wait
to see her that she was beautiful.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
But now that we are on the issue of Iran,
let me specifically ask you because it seems like there
are two major issues that just continue to percolate. And
I had a conversation with the president of private conversation
and I did ask him if I could talk about it,
and it was, you know, I asked him maybe a
(11:40):
week ago, I said, you know, are you going to
go back to bombing?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
He said, I said, you could.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Probably wipe out their economy in fifteen minutes. He goes, No, Sean,
I could knock it out in five, he goes, But
then he said something, and you references in your present
when you were filling in for Caroline, and you said,
imagine world with a nuclear on Duran, and forget about
the Strait. They would hold the entire world house.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That's right there. Always seems to have come out of.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
Nowhere, these bizarre conspiracy theories, Oh the president is doing
this for Israel, or or Fox News hosts or bb Nennaho.
That I ask everybody, did he have any choice based
on what Steve Wikoff told us?
Speaker 7 (12:23):
Now, look, every president in the last twenty years has
been worried about the Iran nuclear program. Obama did a
nuclear deal with him because he was worried about it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Not a good nuclear deal, but he made one.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
The President reversed it and imposed crippling sanctions and took.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Out Solomani, who was a threat to the United States.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Joe Biden was begging to get back into a nuclear
deal with him. The whole world, you know, the French,
the Germans, the UK. They imposed new sanctions on Iran
last year, snapback sanctions because of the nuclear threat. The
whole world to see, Iran was building up a conventional
capability where they would have so many missiles and so
many drones that they could overwhelm anybody's defenses.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Once they had that.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
Nobody could do anything about their nuclear program because they
would say, if you attack our nuclear program, we will
wipe out six countries in the Gulf region and you
won't be able to defend against it. You won't have
enough patriots, you know, because you get these swarms of drones,
these swarms of rockets. They were on the verge in
a year from now, they would have been at that point.
The President said, that's an intolerable risk. People are struggling
to make that connection, but the connection is very real.
(13:27):
They were building a such a high number. They were
going to have so many drones and missiles that no
one could attack Iron because the result would be catastrophic
for the region. And once they had that immunity, then
they would break out towards a weapon. We knew that
the President is not going to allow that to happen
under his watch.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
Yeah, let's go to the Western hemisphere, and what is
the relationship with Venezuela. And I know it's got to
be an issue near and dear to your heart. Yeah,
I know your family background and that's Cuba.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Well on Venezuela, it's been four months, so I think
we made some steady progress on improving venue. But look,
we're trying to normalize that place. This was a place
where a country of incredible wealth, but all the wealth
was being stolen. It wasn't going to benefit to Venezuelan people.
So we've created mechanisms. You know, all the money that
make on oil now goes into a bank account in
New York and it's audited by KPMG, and it's being
(14:18):
used to pay the salaries of teachers and firefighters and
police officers and university professors.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
So for the first time.
Speaker 7 (14:24):
In over a decade, the wealth of the country is
actually benefiting the people of Venezuela.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
But there's more work to be done.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Ultimately, as we work through this process, we won't have
to reach a stage of transition where you're gonna have
to normalize your government. There's gonna have to be, you know,
a process it's legitimate that people look at and say
this is this is a legitimate permanent government, presidency, elections
and things of that nature. That moment has to arrive,
but it has to be We don't want to wait
too long. We want to see it happen, but you
(14:50):
don't want to move too fast either, because the whole
thing can break. So it's it's a difficult thing to manage.
But it's only four months in and I'm very I
think we should be pleased. Venezuela is a better place
today than it was four months ago, but it needs
to continue to stay on that path. In the case
of Cuba is a very different situation.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
There is no economy in Cuba.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
To the extent there's any wealth in Cuba, it doesn't
go it doesn't forget about, it doesn't go to the people.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It doesn't even go to the government.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
The wealth is controlled by a private by a company
owned by military generals.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
They take all the money. They're sitting on billions of dollars.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
Okay, this is a country where people are literally now
eating garbage from the streets, but they have a company
that controls all of the money making there that's sitting
on fifteen sixteen billion dollars. So it's a broken, non
functional economy, and it's impossible to change it. I wish
it were different, but I believe it's my personal opinion.
You cannot change the economic trajectory of Cuba. As long
(15:45):
as the people who are in charge of it now
are in charge of it, that's what's gonna have to change.
Because these people are proven incapable. I hope I'm wrong.
We'll give them a chance, but I don't think it's
gonna happen. I don't think we're going to be able
to change the direct trajectory of Cuba as long as
these people are in charge in that regime.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
These people are not in charge.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
I mean, I can envision American wealth and companies it
could become.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, I mean the destination.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
The one thing Cuba would enjoy is an enormous expatriate community,
you know, Cuban Americans that would go back and invest.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
But I think there would be interest globally.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
Look, they have significant mineral deposits in Cuba, you know,
one of the you know, and some of the rare
earth minerals, some of the best in the world. They
have obviously an incredible opportunity with tourism, with agriculture, very
rich farmland. So Cuba should not be a poor country.
It's people should not be starving, It's people should be prosperous.
And what's most interesting is You see Cubans everywhere in
the world in the United States, but you see them
(16:37):
in Europe, you see them in Panama. Cubans leave Cuba,
they go to other countries and they become successful. The
only place in the world where Cubans can't seem to
prosper and succeed is in Cuba.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Thanks for listening to Sean Hannity.
Speaker 8 (17:18):
Hey, it's Mark Simone here for Sean Hannity. Now we're
gonna hear more of this exclusive interview with Marco Rubio
in just a few minutes, and then make sure you
watch Hannity tonight exclusive interview with the President. President Trump
will talk about what happened in the summit. This will
be the first exclusive, long detailed interview about exactly what
(17:39):
happens Tonight at nine on Hannity on the Fox News Channel.
But don't go away. More with Marco Rubio.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Coming up next, Hannity uncovers the real truth about the
(18:15):
politics of DC. He's your watchdog, one big brother. Every
day Hannity is on right now.
Speaker 8 (18:25):
Well, it's Mark Simone here for Sean Hannity. Normally I'm
on our big flagship station WR and New Yorker on
iHeart now Tonight Hannity nine o'clock Fox News Channel, exclusive
hour long interview with President Trump. He'll go over everything
that happened in the summit. Now, Sean is with the
(18:46):
President traveling on Air Force one with the whole delegation.
Been in China for a couple of days and then
on the way over. I mean it's like a twenty
seven hour flight. You got plenty of time. He did
this wonderful inclusive interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
So Vladimir Putin recently said, and I thought this was
interesting that the war with Ukraine may be coming to
an end. One of the things I always talk a
lot about the next generation of weaponry.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I think we see that on display in our.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Conflict with a Ran that we've had. I mean, Midnight Hammer,
Epic Fury two examples, what the Israelis have done, more examples.
But what's interesting, Ukraine has really impressed me. They seem
to be creating the next generation of.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Drone every four to ten.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Days, and between drones and robots. Who would have thought
four and a half years ago they would still be
in this fight? Would I didn't expect that.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
Well, there's no doubt that the necessity of fighting this
war has caused the Ukrainians to develop new tactics, new techniques,
new equipment, new technology that is creating a sort of
hybrid asymmetrical warfare.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's impressive, no doubt about it.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
I mean, if you look at the the Russians are
losing five times as many soldiers a month as the
Ukrainians are, and the Ukrainians a smaller country and a
smaller army for that matter, although the Ukrainian armed forces
are the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe,
just to be clear right now, obviously because a lot
of the assistants they've gotten, but also because of the
battlefield experience that they've gained. As far as the broader conflict,
(20:20):
the President just wants to see the war and he
thinks it's a crazy war.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
And he's right.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
I mean, you have people dying in massive numbers on
both sides. Ukraine is going to spend two decades rebuilding.
The damage to the Russian economy is extraordinary. The Russians
are losing fifteen to twenty thousand soldiers a month dead,
not injured, dead. It's a bad war, and we stand
prepared the President's stance, prepared as team stance, prepared to
(20:45):
facilitate a diplomatic end of the war. Unfortunately, we've lost
some momentum over the last few months for a variety
of reasons. The Ukrainians feel increasingly confident about their battlefield
position they got through the winter. The Russians feel a
little bit optimist because the price of oil is up.
But hopefully, you know, whether it's Latimer Putent statement or
anything else, hopefully we'll reach a point here soon where
(21:08):
both parties re engaged and we're prepared to play the
role to mediate and to bring that to a conclusion.
I think we're the only country in the world that can.
If somebody else wants to try, they should do it.
But both sides keep telling us we're the only ones
that can. In the end, the President wants to see
the war end, and it is something he can do
and we can do to help it end.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
We're going to do it.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
So you had an opportunity recently to meet with Poe
Leo from Chicago, an American. The only thing that surprised
me about is conflicting and I went to Catholic schools
for twelve years. I studied Latin, I studied theology, et cetera.
And he said, God doesn't support any conflict. Am I
(21:50):
the God of the Old Testament same as the God
in the New Testament. I could start with, you know,
David and Goliath. I'm not sure if I agreed with that,
and I got killed, you know in the media. How
dare I challenge the pope? But how did the meeting?
Speaker 8 (22:05):
Though?
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Take us inside? It was a positive meeting.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
Look, I think I always start with the premise that
the papacy and the pope is not a political office.
It's covered by political reporters as a political office, but
it's not.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It is the you know, it's the vicar of Christ.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
For those of us who are Roman Catholic, it's the
belief that he is the successor of Peter and on earth.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And so now in that realm, you're going to make.
Speaker 7 (22:30):
Statements about social policy and even global policies that are
going to touch on politics. And consistently the Church has
said that they want to promote peace, that they prefer
to avoid wars. They don't like wars, and that's been
a position for a long time. Obviously, our perspective is
different in that regard. I agree we wouldn't want wars either.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
We're not you know, we're no. I don't think we're
in favor of war.
Speaker 7 (22:52):
But for a nation state, which is different from a
religious office. For a nation state, there are threats to
your security the well being of your people that have
to be addressed, ideally through a diplomatic means. But there
are conflicts and there are issues in the world that
cannot be.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Solved diplomatically no matter how hard you try. There's been
over a decade of work done to.
Speaker 7 (23:13):
Try to diplomatically solve Iran's desire and ambition to have
a nuclear weapons program.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
We haven't gotten any result.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
What was the diplomatic solution for an Adolph Hitler as
an example, they're probably there was none right and unfortunately
led to a war. So that's where I think the
realm of the geopolitical is different and has to We
are obviously guided by our faith, and we're instructed by
our faith. That's the compass by which we live our lives.
(23:41):
We also have an obligation to the national security of
our country and that has to be taken into account.
That's our primary job is to keep American safe. And
that's why we're involved in Iran. That's why we're involved
in anything we do around the world.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
What about the pope was a receptive to your comments
and you well, I found him.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
Very you know, it's very unique because traditionally meeting with
a pope and he you know, he's going to have
an accent or he's going to have an interpreter. This
is an American pope. I mean we spoke. We spoke
for over an hour. We talked about a lot of topics.
By the way, Chicago Base White Sauce.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Where he does.
Speaker 7 (24:14):
But this is a pope, by the way, that understands
the United States very well. Obviously, he follows our news
very carefully. He's quite aware of current events in our country.
But also we had a lot of other things to
talk about. He's concerned about religious freedom. You know, he
just came back from Africa, where the church is growing
very fast, but ISIS and other terrorist elements are threatening
Christians in Africa. I think he's concerned about events in
(24:35):
Latin America. He had just had a visit from the
bishops of Venezuela, so he wanted to choir As SOO
how I thought that was going. We've actually worked with
the Church in Cuba after the hurricane. We distributed or
have tried to distribute, over six million dollars of humanitarian
aid via the Catholic Church.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
We've offered to do more.
Speaker 7 (24:56):
We've offered to distribute one hundred million dollars of humanity
aid to the Cuban people through the church, and the
regime has denied it.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
The Cuban regime, So there was a lot we covered
in the start. I don't know.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
I think just to be a secretary of State, that's
a pretty cool jacket they get.
Speaker 7 (25:12):
Yeah, it was a gift that somebody gave me, and
it's it's good to wear it on the play.
Speaker 6 (25:16):
You are you and look, you were a senator for
all these years. I've known you for so many years.
We've had a friendship for so many years. How do
you compare this job to everything else you've done.
Speaker 7 (25:26):
Well, it's quite different, right the we're The work of
a legislator involves constituent service, and it involves writing of legislation,
committee meetings, oversight. And I enjoyed doing all of that
and and it was an important era in our life.
This is a very different opportunity. This is in the
executive branch. Here, you're actually executing on laws uh and
and you're you're basically you're executing the president's foreign policy.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So I enjoy the role. I enjoyed the job, and
I enjoy.
Speaker 7 (25:51):
Working for this president because he's willing to do what
others talk about but don't do. You know when you say, well,
we can't do that, and you'll say why, that's his question,
why why can't we do that? Why hasn't been this
been done before? He is willing to do what others
are not willing to do. He is willing to solve
unfinished business and not leave it for the next guy
or gal.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
And I admire that. And it's a lot of fun
to be a part of it.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
You know, it's frustrated me is there is some that
interpret the Trump doctorate, as I call it, as isolation
as a well. He took out the isis cal of Fate,
took out Solamani and bag Daddy, dropped the mother of
all mombs on Afghanistan, Midnight Hammer, and he will wrap
up epic fury.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And he did make the raid on Maduro.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
But I see three lessons He's learned in history, and
this is the last last question. And I see that
he saw that over a hundred million souls died in
the last century. So if you can take out neutralize
a threat ahead of time, it's smart. I also think
he learned from Reagan peace through strength. He built up
the military in his first term. And I love the
(26:56):
idea that he doesn't want to be an occupational force
and doesn't want forwards.
Speaker 7 (27:02):
I do, and I would just add one more element
to it. America is going to be engaged in the world.
This is not about turning inward, but we are going
to engage in the world based on what's good for America,
what's in the national interest of the United States. Does
what we're doing make the country safer, more secure, more prosperous.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
If it does, it's in our national interest.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
If it doesn't, it might be a nice thing to do,
but it won't be as high up on the priority list.
So that's where I think you see him engaging in
the world. He doesn't engage in every conflict and in
every topic. I mean, we have an opinion, we may
try to do something in the margins, but he gets
engaged and spends his time focused on things around the
world that directly impact the security and the prosperity of
(27:41):
the American people. If there's some place in the world
where Americans business can prosper and therefore help our economy,
the President's engage. If it's trade to benefit our factories,
our workers, the presidents engaged.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
If it's a threat to our national security.
Speaker 7 (27:55):
Whether it's now or something that looms three years down
the world, the President it's not going to leave it
as unfinished business, he engages.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
I'm worried about NATO.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
I felt that they didn't have the moral clarity on
the number one state sponsor of terror.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
That's troubling to me.
Speaker 7 (28:10):
Yeah, the problem with NATO and four And I've been
a supporter of NATO throughout my career in the Senate,
and one of the reasons why I supported NATO was
because it gave us basing rights. It allows us to
have bases in Europe that we could use in a
contingency like something in the Middle East, you know, where
you could have planes flying from some country in Europe
and actually protecting our national interest in the Middle East
(28:31):
as an.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Example, or in Africa.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
And so when you have NATO partners denying you the
use of those bases. When the primary reason why NATO's
good for America is now being denied to us by
Spain as an example, then what's the purpose of the alliance?
It starts becoming a you know, their allies when they
want to be kind and look to be fair. There
are countries in NATO that were very helpful to us.
(28:53):
I just singling went out Portugal, they said yes before
we even asked, told.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Them what the question was.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
Poland, Poland.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
So there are countries in Romania, Bulgaria, others like Spain
have been atrocious, just horrifying. So I do think there's
some very legitimate questions to ask about NATO, And that
is what is the purpose of being an alliance whose
benefit to us is these basing rights? If in a
time of conflict like the one we've had with Iran,
they can deny us the use of those bases, So
why are we there for only to protect them, but
(29:22):
not to further our national interests.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
This is a very legitimate question that we need to address,
and we've paid two thirds of the bill. The Secretary
great to say it, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
To America's top defender of freedom. Liberty and American values.
This is the Hennity Show.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Hey, it's Mark Simone here for Sean Hannity. So there's
no more Marco Rubio. That's it.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
It's all Mark Simone.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Now.
Speaker 8 (30:17):
Oh my god, I gotta talk now, I gotta talk
for we missed you. Yeah, yeah, no, that was that
fascinating interview.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Doesn't Rubio do enough jobs? Thank you very much?
Speaker 8 (30:27):
Yeah, Rubio has done so many jobs. You know, everybody thought,
oh jd Vance twenty twenty eight. Uh, Rubio looks like
a jack of all trades man who can really And
when he.
Speaker 9 (30:38):
Was you know, when he was in Congress, he was
great in Congress. And even when he ran and they
had their sparring moments him and Trump, you know, they
got over it. And he's a big boy and took
on this great role. He's been crushing it.
Speaker 8 (30:49):
Yeah. Remember he was little Marco, Little Marco. Now he's
he's the adult in the room. Now he's the senior,
top most respected guy probably in that administration. So hey,
I just want to mention good news. The New York Times,
besides being the most partisan slanted paper ever, it's got
to be the most antisemitic paper ever. They have been
(31:10):
attacking Israel. Well, listen, this has been going on for
one hundred years, so they were involved in covering up
the Holocaust. The New York Times, they in the last
week went crazy attacking Israel, including I'd like to say this,
accusing Israel of training dogs to rape women. The columnist
(31:34):
Nicholas Christoff writing this in The New York Times. And
then they articles yesterday about Israel has been raping their
female prisoners. Just idiotic, ridiculous, ludicrous stuff. Well, bb Net
and Yahoo and the Israeli government have announced they're suing
the New York Times. They're filing a massive defamation suit
against the New York Times. Now Alan Dershowitz, who's been
(31:57):
talking about this for years with The New York Times,
I imagine, and he is very close to bb not
in Naho. Imagine Dershwitz will jump in and help this lawsuit.
But this will be this will be pretty interesting. It's
the Israeli governments suing the New York Times. There'll be
all kinds of what they call discovery, where all kinds
of documents, witnesses, everything can be uncovered. And this will
(32:18):
be a great, great moment to go after the New
York Times. Obviously, as we are not doing it for
the money. It's just to get back put a stop
to the anti semitism at the New York Times. What
are you smiling at, Linda, No.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
I mean the New York Times. It is just such
an incredible foundational piece of you know, literature in our history.
Even just today, as you were saying earlier, you know,
noticing one of the biggest moments in this trip to China,
like not enough women at the table.
Speaker 8 (32:46):
Yeah, that was the only thing.
Speaker 9 (32:47):
It's embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Please shut up.
Speaker 9 (32:49):
We're a meritocracy. It has nothing to do with your gender.
I could care less which genders at the table. It's
about who's best for the job.
Speaker 8 (32:56):
Have a nice day.
Speaker 9 (32:57):
New York Times.
Speaker 8 (32:58):
Yeah, New York Times. You know a million years ago,
have you said, oh, it's in the New York Times,
everybody was mad pressed. I know. Now if you say
it's in the New York Times, everybody goes, oh god,
why what happened? Yeah, it's I mean, if you had
to believe something of the National Inquirer or the New
York Times, I don't know, that's a tough choice. Hey,
so we're out of time. But Sean Handy, well, not quite.
Speaker 9 (33:20):
You got a little bit more time. Oh you've got
one minute left with us. I know it's a struggle,
but try to struggle. Try to, you know, manage through it,
my friend, and remind everybody. I mean, I know you're
too bashful, you know you're so shy. But you know,
Mark is one of the number one shows in all
of America in the morning. I mean he takes top
you know, top rank every single demo.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
Can you do listen to me ten to noon on
w R New York or on the iHeart app.
Speaker 9 (33:46):
And you can follow on an Instagram because he is
a bit of a photographer. He's a little shy about
that too, but he's very good.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
Mark Simone, NYC at Instagram. And what about the Linda podcast?
Speaker 9 (33:56):
Yeah, I have a podcast called the Rogue Recap. It's
not for the faint of heart, but yes I have one.
It's on iHeart. If you want to listen to it,
you can. I say a lot of things there, there
you go.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
And so I did my own show today Tendon and
plus I'm doing this show. There's a lot of work I.
Speaker 9 (34:10):
Want to listen. If I can have you here every day,
alongside shown I would we miss you?
Speaker 8 (34:13):
Mark Well, I miss you, but I'm glad it's over.
I hear music, I'm hungry, I want to go, so hey,
watch Hannity tonight, big interview with President Trump, and I'll
be back here tomorrow
Well, we have come out.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Your city, get you a confide, well besied, and if
you want a little banging, I come along. The American
Revolution was against the billionaires of their time.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
The tax system as we have it is fundamentally unjust.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We are speaking about living in the wealthiest city, in
the wealthiest country in the history of the world, where
one in for New Yorkers are living in poverty.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
And we are going to have to explore massive judicial
reform state by state and at the federal level. And
everything should be on the table. As far as I'm concerned,
freedom is back in style. Welcome to the revolution.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Away of coming to your center way again and saying
you a conscious saw.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
New Sean Hennity show, more me I'm the scenes, information
on freaking news and more bold inspired.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Solutions for America.
Speaker 6 (01:21):
Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Here we are on board
Air Force one. We're headed to China. These meetings are
very critical. I mean, my first question, do you view
China as our top geopolitical foe?
Speaker 7 (01:34):
Yeah, it's both our top political challenge geopolitically, and it's
also the most important relationship for us to manage. I mean,
it's a big, powerful country, it's going to continue to grow,
but we're going to have interests of ours that are
going to be in conflict with interests of theirs, and
to avoid wars and maintain peace and stability in the world,
we're going to have to manage those. They're clearly areas
(01:56):
where they're so important for the United States that you
we're going to have to raise those issues and we'll
continue to do so. The President's going to continue to
do so. There might be some areas of cooperation too,
and we want to make sure we don't walk away
from those.
Speaker 6 (02:08):
You know, it's interesting the one thing the President always says,
he's America first. He understands President Chies is going to
be China first. Putin will be Russia first. I think
having that understanding is a little bit unique and historically
speaking as if we should be surprised that they put
their country of ours.
Speaker 7 (02:29):
Actually, foreign policy and national security matters work best when
you understand that point. Every country should do what's in
the best interest of their country, and then where there
are areas of alignment, where what's in our best interest
and their best interests are aligned, that's where you have cooperation.
That's where you have alliances. That's where you have strong
bonds of friendship. When there's conflict, that's between what they
(02:51):
want and what we want, that's where the work of
diplomacy and these personal.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Relationships between the leaders are so critical.
Speaker 7 (02:57):
And there are times when some of those issue of
conflict are irreconcilable. I think Iran is an example of that.
Their clerical regime wants to have a nuclear weapon and
the world, led by President Trump, says that's completely impossible,
cannot happen. So unfortunately, there's some areas like that where
it comes up. But there are areas where if we
can find areas of commonality, that's very powerful and important.
(03:20):
But we will have to manage these bilateral differences because
they're very significant. And when it's two big, powerful countries,
you know that falling apart at have tremendous significance on
the global economy and on global peace.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Want to get back to Iran in a second, let
me stay out in China, trade tariffs, intellectual property, theft Taiwan.
Their help of Iran, I think is part of it.
Speaker 8 (03:43):
Also.
Speaker 7 (03:44):
Yeah, all those topics will come up, there's no doubt
about it. In the case of the Indo Pacific, Taiwan,
and so forth. It's not in China's interest or anyone's
interests for there to be any sort of force change
in the status quo.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I think stability there is very important.
Speaker 7 (03:56):
We've made clear to them, you know that any support
for Iran would obviously be detrimental for our relationship. That
obviously is going to come up in this conversation on trade. Look,
the United States is very clear we have to be
able to make our own stuff. We cannot depend on
China or any country for that matter, for one hundred
percent of anything that we need. You know, when you
depend on any other country for one hundred percent of
(04:17):
what you need, you're very vulnerable. Likewise, you know, China
wants to they want China wants the world to be
dependent on them for one hundred percent because it gives.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Them strength and leverage.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
So that's a perfect example of an area in which
our interests are not aligned. But the President's very committed
to bringing back factories, bringing back industrial capacity to the.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
United States, and diversifying.
Speaker 7 (04:36):
Where we get our rare earth, our critical minerals, our
supply chains.
Speaker 6 (04:40):
You know, President Trump has described President she to me
in interviews as stoic, all business, no niceties in that sense,
although there will be a state dinner. Now I know
this is your first trip to China, but not.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Your person go around with China. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (04:58):
Well, look, their system is very disciplined, it's very focused.
When you speak to them, they have an agenda, They
go through that agenda. The president's style is quite different.
But they seem to have a very good at least
the interpersonal relationship, and that's important.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Look that the differences.
Speaker 7 (05:13):
Between the countries remain, but the ability to manage it
becomes not easy, but easier when the heads of state
have a good working relationship and they seem to.
Speaker 6 (05:23):
Yeah, well I think so too. What would you say,
what is your read on President Chi?
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I mean you read that.
Speaker 6 (05:30):
Their economy is struggling. You read that he's isolated. You
read both Putin and President She have a pretty high
degree of paranoia. What is your read as you look
at President She from a distance going into the meeting.
Speaker 7 (05:45):
Yeah, I think my read has been what I think
has been for a while, and that is China has
a plan.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
I mean, they.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
Clearly view themselves. They believe they will be the world's
most powerful country. They'll sur pass the United States, and
they have a plan to do it, and they're executing
on that plan, and I don't blame them. If I
were the Chinese government, I'd have the same plan. We,
on the other hand, don't view it that way, and
we don't want to see anything that We're not trying
to constrain China. But their rise cannot come at our expense.
(06:11):
Their rise cannot come at our fall. So there's an
area where we're just going to have a difference of opinion.
But my view of them and of the government in
China as they're very confident.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
They have a.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
Plan and they're trying to execute on that plan, which
is fine. I understand that from a nation state perspective,
but where that plan is in conflict with the national
interest in the United States, we need to do what's
right for the United States, and that'll come up on
this trip, but more importantly, that'll be a feature of
this relationship for a long time.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
If you had it's kind of hard, it's not a
fair question to ask, but if you had a goal
coming out of this summit, because this is a big
deal that you're going that the President is going, the
Secretary of Defenses on this plan and so many others,
and every top business leader in America is going on
this trip.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
It's kind of crazy.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
If you had a goal what you would like, you
would say it would be. How would you define a
successful trip?
Speaker 7 (07:02):
Well, I think it's already a success because we're going
and we're going to be able to talk to them
as opposed to at them. You know, one thing is
to exchange phone calls, and another thing is to put
out messages and press releases and statements. But when the
leaders are actually engaging personally, not just the president the president,
but me with their foreign minister, and Pete Hegseth with
their defense minister and so forth, it creates channels of
(07:24):
communication that can prove valuable in a time of potential
conflict or whether there might be heightened tension.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
So that's important.
Speaker 7 (07:32):
I also think, and we're not prepared to announce this yet,
but there are a couple of unique areas of cooperation
that we can work together on. The obvious ones are
obviously fentanyl precursor production, which China, because their system can
do this, can really crack down on that that would
help lower fentanyl deaths in the United States. And there
are a couple other areas of international relations where perhaps
we intend to talk to them about discreetly, we're not
(07:53):
going to announce it in the media, but areas that
we both share some concern over.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
I have a friend of mine, it's a great inventor,
and the level of intellectual property theft not just impacted
its entire business, but it's impacting many American companies.
Speaker 7 (08:11):
Big issue, that's right, an enormous issue, and one that
we're going to continue to raise. Even as we try
to protect our companies and our competitive advantage. We're going
to raise that with them. I don't think there's any
point in denying that. The fact of the matter is
that a lot of the advancements, not all, but a
lot of the advancements you've seen in the commercial sector,
in the industrial sector, and the technological sector in China
(08:32):
is a intellectual a product of intellectual property theft and
or reverse engineering, which is the same thing of our
own technology. So that has to be addressed. But I
also think we can't only rely on that. We have
to stay ahead of the curve on innovation. You know,
one thing is if you're you're stealing or taking the
stuff that was cutting edge five years ago, but the
things that are going to be cutting edge five years
(08:53):
from now, we've got to continue to invest and push
our companies to continue to stay ahead of the of
that pace off and continue to lead the world in innovation.
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Maybe the best way to transition to the issue of Iran,
which I want to ask you about, is that China's
both public statements and their actions. Although it was interesting
that an I that a Chinese tanker got hit in
the straight over moves, but obviously they've been taking a
very different position.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
You keep reading the.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Intelligence is showing they've been helping the Iranians. Obviously it's
more important to them that We've.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Made the argument to the Chinese, and I hope it's
compelling and they'll have a chance to do something about
it at the United Nations later this week when there's
a resolution just condemning Iran on what they're doing with
the streets. Look, there's three things. The Chinese have ship
stuck in the Persian Gulf because setting up a system
that says we're going to let certain ships through but
others not, it's easier said than done. And you saw
(09:51):
a Chinese not Chinese flag vessel, but it was a
Chinese cargo got hit over the weekend. I'm sure Iron
didn't do it deliberately, but they did it. It happened,
and so that's why these Chinese ships are stuck in there.
The second is I don't think that that China. It's
a huge source of instability. It threatens to destabilize Asia
more than any other part of the world because it's
heavily reliant on the Straits for energy.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And the third.
Speaker 7 (10:13):
Reason is because China's economy is export driven, meaning their
economy is fueled not by what they consume domestically, but
by what they make and sell to other countries.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well, if all the countries of.
Speaker 7 (10:23):
The world economies are melting down because of this crisis
in the Straits, they're going to be buying less Chinese product,
and the Chinese exports are going to drop precipitously.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So it's in their interest to resolve this.
Speaker 7 (10:34):
We hope to convince them to play a more active
role in getting around to walk away from what.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
They're doing now and trying to do now in the
Persian Gulf.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
You know, I thought you had a lot of jobs
by being the Secretary of State and the NSA you
know of the NSA, then you have to go in
and become White House Press Secretary.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
No, no's hairline is irreplaceable.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I was just a pitching. It seemed that you like it.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
It seemed like you have in.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Five Well, yeah, I don't know. I'd have fun if
I had to do it every week.
Speaker 7 (11:03):
But one timing too bad and I enjoyed it, you know,
And it was it was about foreign policy mostly, so
I was honored to be able to do it. But
we can't wait till Caroline gets back to a beautiful baby,
and we wish her the best, but we can't wait
to see her that she was beautiful.
Speaker 6 (11:19):
But now that we are on the issue of Iran,
let me specifically ask you because it seems like there
are two major issues that just continue to percolate. And
I had a conversation with the president of private conversation
and I did ask him if I could talk about it,
and it was, you know, I asked him maybe a
(11:40):
week ago, I said, you know, are you going to
go back to bombing?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
He said, I said, you could.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Probably wipe out their economy in fifteen minutes. He goes, No, Sean,
I could knock it out in five, he goes, But
then he said something, and you references in your present
when you were filling in for Caroline, and you said,
imagine world with a nuclear on Duran, and forget about
the Strait. They would hold the entire world house.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
That's right there. Always seems to have come out of.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
Nowhere, these bizarre conspiracy theories, Oh the president is doing
this for Israel, or or Fox News hosts or bb Nennaho.
That I ask everybody, did he have any choice based
on what Steve Wikoff told us?
Speaker 7 (12:23):
Now, look, every president in the last twenty years has
been worried about the Iran nuclear program. Obama did a
nuclear deal with him because he was worried about it.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Not a good nuclear deal, but he made one.
Speaker 7 (12:34):
The President reversed it and imposed crippling sanctions and took.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Out Solomani, who was a threat to the United States.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Joe Biden was begging to get back into a nuclear
deal with him. The whole world, you know, the French,
the Germans, the UK. They imposed new sanctions on Iran
last year, snapback sanctions because of the nuclear threat. The
whole world to see, Iran was building up a conventional
capability where they would have so many missiles and so
many drones that they could overwhelm anybody's defenses.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Once they had that.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
Nobody could do anything about their nuclear program because they
would say, if you attack our nuclear program, we will
wipe out six countries in the Gulf region and you
won't be able to defend against it. You won't have
enough patriots, you know, because you get these swarms of drones,
these swarms of rockets. They were on the verge in
a year from now, they would have been at that point.
The President said, that's an intolerable risk. People are struggling
to make that connection, but the connection is very real.
(13:27):
They were building a such a high number. They were
going to have so many drones and missiles that no
one could attack Iron because the result would be catastrophic
for the region. And once they had that immunity, then
they would break out towards a weapon. We knew that
the President is not going to allow that to happen
under his watch.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
Yeah, let's go to the Western hemisphere, and what is
the relationship with Venezuela. And I know it's got to
be an issue near and dear to your heart. Yeah,
I know your family background and that's Cuba.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Well on Venezuela, it's been four months, so I think
we made some steady progress on improving venue. But look,
we're trying to normalize that place. This was a place
where a country of incredible wealth, but all the wealth
was being stolen. It wasn't going to benefit to Venezuelan people.
So we've created mechanisms. You know, all the money that
make on oil now goes into a bank account in
New York and it's audited by KPMG, and it's being
(14:18):
used to pay the salaries of teachers and firefighters and
police officers and university professors.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
So for the first time.
Speaker 7 (14:24):
In over a decade, the wealth of the country is
actually benefiting the people of Venezuela.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
But there's more work to be done.
Speaker 7 (14:30):
Ultimately, as we work through this process, we won't have
to reach a stage of transition where you're gonna have
to normalize your government. There's gonna have to be, you know,
a process it's legitimate that people look at and say
this is this is a legitimate permanent government, presidency, elections
and things of that nature. That moment has to arrive,
but it has to be We don't want to wait
too long. We want to see it happen, but you
(14:50):
don't want to move too fast either, because the whole
thing can break. So it's it's a difficult thing to manage.
But it's only four months in and I'm very I
think we should be pleased. Venezuela is a better place
today than it was four months ago, but it needs
to continue to stay on that path. In the case
of Cuba is a very different situation.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
There is no economy in Cuba.
Speaker 7 (15:10):
To the extent there's any wealth in Cuba, it doesn't
go it doesn't forget about, it doesn't go to the people.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
It doesn't even go to the government.
Speaker 7 (15:16):
The wealth is controlled by a private by a company
owned by military generals.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
They take all the money. They're sitting on billions of dollars.
Speaker 7 (15:23):
Okay, this is a country where people are literally now
eating garbage from the streets, but they have a company
that controls all of the money making there that's sitting
on fifteen sixteen billion dollars. So it's a broken, non
functional economy, and it's impossible to change it. I wish
it were different, but I believe it's my personal opinion.
You cannot change the economic trajectory of Cuba. As long
(15:45):
as the people who are in charge of it now
are in charge of it, that's what's gonna have to change.
Because these people are proven incapable. I hope I'm wrong.
We'll give them a chance, but I don't think it's
gonna happen. I don't think we're going to be able
to change the direct trajectory of Cuba as long as
these people are in charge in that regime.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
These people are not in charge.
Speaker 6 (16:01):
I mean, I can envision American wealth and companies it
could become.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, I mean the destination.
Speaker 7 (16:09):
The one thing Cuba would enjoy is an enormous expatriate community,
you know, Cuban Americans that would go back and invest.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
But I think there would be interest globally.
Speaker 7 (16:16):
Look, they have significant mineral deposits in Cuba, you know,
one of the you know, and some of the rare
earth minerals, some of the best in the world. They
have obviously an incredible opportunity with tourism, with agriculture, very
rich farmland. So Cuba should not be a poor country.
It's people should not be starving, It's people should be prosperous.
And what's most interesting is You see Cubans everywhere in
the world in the United States, but you see them
(16:37):
in Europe, you see them in Panama. Cubans leave Cuba,
they go to other countries and they become successful. The
only place in the world where Cubans can't seem to
prosper and succeed is in Cuba.
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Thanks for listening to Sean Hannity.
Speaker 8 (17:18):
Hey, it's Mark Simone here for Sean Hannity. Now we're
gonna hear more of this exclusive interview with Marco Rubio
in just a few minutes, and then make sure you
watch Hannity tonight exclusive interview with the President. President Trump
will talk about what happened in the summit. This will
be the first exclusive, long detailed interview about exactly what
(17:39):
happens Tonight at nine on Hannity on the Fox News Channel.
But don't go away. More with Marco Rubio.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Coming up next, Hannity uncovers the real truth about the
(18:15):
politics of DC. He's your watchdog, one big brother. Every
day Hannity is on right now.
Speaker 8 (18:25):
Well, it's Mark Simone here for Sean Hannity. Normally I'm
on our big flagship station WR and New Yorker on
iHeart now Tonight Hannity nine o'clock Fox News Channel, exclusive
hour long interview with President Trump. He'll go over everything
that happened in the summit. Now, Sean is with the
(18:46):
President traveling on Air Force one with the whole delegation.
Been in China for a couple of days and then
on the way over. I mean it's like a twenty
seven hour flight. You got plenty of time. He did
this wonderful inclusive interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (19:04):
So Vladimir Putin recently said, and I thought this was
interesting that the war with Ukraine may be coming to
an end. One of the things I always talk a
lot about the next generation of weaponry.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I think we see that on display in our.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Conflict with a Ran that we've had. I mean, Midnight Hammer,
Epic Fury two examples, what the Israelis have done, more examples.
But what's interesting, Ukraine has really impressed me. They seem
to be creating the next generation of.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Drone every four to ten.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Days, and between drones and robots. Who would have thought
four and a half years ago they would still be
in this fight? Would I didn't expect that.
Speaker 7 (19:42):
Well, there's no doubt that the necessity of fighting this
war has caused the Ukrainians to develop new tactics, new techniques,
new equipment, new technology that is creating a sort of
hybrid asymmetrical warfare.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
That's impressive, no doubt about it.
Speaker 7 (19:58):
I mean, if you look at the the Russians are
losing five times as many soldiers a month as the
Ukrainians are, and the Ukrainians a smaller country and a
smaller army for that matter, although the Ukrainian armed forces
are the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe,
just to be clear right now, obviously because a lot
of the assistants they've gotten, but also because of the
battlefield experience that they've gained. As far as the broader conflict,
(20:20):
the President just wants to see the war and he
thinks it's a crazy war.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
And he's right.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
I mean, you have people dying in massive numbers on
both sides. Ukraine is going to spend two decades rebuilding.
The damage to the Russian economy is extraordinary. The Russians
are losing fifteen to twenty thousand soldiers a month dead,
not injured, dead. It's a bad war, and we stand
prepared the President's stance, prepared as team stance, prepared to
(20:45):
facilitate a diplomatic end of the war. Unfortunately, we've lost
some momentum over the last few months for a variety
of reasons. The Ukrainians feel increasingly confident about their battlefield
position they got through the winter. The Russians feel a
little bit optimist because the price of oil is up.
But hopefully, you know, whether it's Latimer Putent statement or
anything else, hopefully we'll reach a point here soon where
(21:08):
both parties re engaged and we're prepared to play the
role to mediate and to bring that to a conclusion.
I think we're the only country in the world that can.
If somebody else wants to try, they should do it.
But both sides keep telling us we're the only ones
that can. In the end, the President wants to see
the war end, and it is something he can do
and we can do to help it end.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
We're going to do it.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
So you had an opportunity recently to meet with Poe
Leo from Chicago, an American. The only thing that surprised
me about is conflicting and I went to Catholic schools
for twelve years. I studied Latin, I studied theology, et cetera.
And he said, God doesn't support any conflict. Am I
(21:50):
the God of the Old Testament same as the God
in the New Testament. I could start with, you know,
David and Goliath. I'm not sure if I agreed with that,
and I got killed, you know in the media. How
dare I challenge the pope? But how did the meeting?
Speaker 8 (22:05):
Though?
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Take us inside? It was a positive meeting.
Speaker 7 (22:06):
Look, I think I always start with the premise that
the papacy and the pope is not a political office.
It's covered by political reporters as a political office, but
it's not.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It is the you know, it's the vicar of Christ.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
For those of us who are Roman Catholic, it's the
belief that he is the successor of Peter and on earth.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And so now in that realm, you're going to make.
Speaker 7 (22:30):
Statements about social policy and even global policies that are
going to touch on politics. And consistently the Church has
said that they want to promote peace, that they prefer
to avoid wars. They don't like wars, and that's been
a position for a long time. Obviously, our perspective is
different in that regard. I agree we wouldn't want wars either.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
We're not you know, we're no. I don't think we're
in favor of war.
Speaker 7 (22:52):
But for a nation state, which is different from a
religious office. For a nation state, there are threats to
your security the well being of your people that have
to be addressed, ideally through a diplomatic means. But there
are conflicts and there are issues in the world that
cannot be.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Solved diplomatically no matter how hard you try. There's been
over a decade of work done to.
Speaker 7 (23:13):
Try to diplomatically solve Iran's desire and ambition to have
a nuclear weapons program.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
We haven't gotten any result.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
What was the diplomatic solution for an Adolph Hitler as
an example, they're probably there was none right and unfortunately
led to a war. So that's where I think the
realm of the geopolitical is different and has to We
are obviously guided by our faith, and we're instructed by
our faith. That's the compass by which we live our lives.
(23:41):
We also have an obligation to the national security of
our country and that has to be taken into account.
That's our primary job is to keep American safe. And
that's why we're involved in Iran. That's why we're involved
in anything we do around the world.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
What about the pope was a receptive to your comments
and you well, I found him.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
Very you know, it's very unique because traditionally meeting with
a pope and he you know, he's going to have
an accent or he's going to have an interpreter. This
is an American pope. I mean we spoke. We spoke
for over an hour. We talked about a lot of topics.
By the way, Chicago Base White Sauce.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Where he does.
Speaker 7 (24:14):
But this is a pope, by the way, that understands
the United States very well. Obviously, he follows our news
very carefully. He's quite aware of current events in our country.
But also we had a lot of other things to
talk about. He's concerned about religious freedom. You know, he
just came back from Africa, where the church is growing
very fast, but ISIS and other terrorist elements are threatening
Christians in Africa. I think he's concerned about events in
(24:35):
Latin America. He had just had a visit from the
bishops of Venezuela, so he wanted to choir As SOO
how I thought that was going. We've actually worked with
the Church in Cuba after the hurricane. We distributed or
have tried to distribute, over six million dollars of humanitarian
aid via the Catholic Church.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
We've offered to do more.
Speaker 7 (24:56):
We've offered to distribute one hundred million dollars of humanity
aid to the Cuban people through the church, and the
regime has denied it.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
The Cuban regime, So there was a lot we covered
in the start. I don't know.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
I think just to be a secretary of State, that's
a pretty cool jacket they get.
Speaker 7 (25:12):
Yeah, it was a gift that somebody gave me, and
it's it's good to wear it on the play.
Speaker 6 (25:16):
You are you and look, you were a senator for
all these years. I've known you for so many years.
We've had a friendship for so many years. How do
you compare this job to everything else you've done.
Speaker 7 (25:26):
Well, it's quite different, right the we're The work of
a legislator involves constituent service, and it involves writing of legislation,
committee meetings, oversight. And I enjoyed doing all of that
and and it was an important era in our life.
This is a very different opportunity. This is in the
executive branch. Here, you're actually executing on laws uh and
and you're you're basically you're executing the president's foreign policy.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
So I enjoy the role. I enjoyed the job, and
I enjoy.
Speaker 7 (25:51):
Working for this president because he's willing to do what
others talk about but don't do. You know when you say, well,
we can't do that, and you'll say why, that's his question,
why why can't we do that? Why hasn't been this
been done before? He is willing to do what others
are not willing to do. He is willing to solve
unfinished business and not leave it for the next guy
or gal.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
And I admire that. And it's a lot of fun
to be a part of it.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
You know, it's frustrated me is there is some that
interpret the Trump doctorate, as I call it, as isolation
as a well. He took out the isis cal of Fate,
took out Solamani and bag Daddy, dropped the mother of
all mombs on Afghanistan, Midnight Hammer, and he will wrap
up epic fury.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And he did make the raid on Maduro.
Speaker 6 (26:34):
But I see three lessons He's learned in history, and
this is the last last question. And I see that
he saw that over a hundred million souls died in
the last century. So if you can take out neutralize
a threat ahead of time, it's smart. I also think
he learned from Reagan peace through strength. He built up
the military in his first term. And I love the
(26:56):
idea that he doesn't want to be an occupational force
and doesn't want forwards.
Speaker 7 (27:02):
I do, and I would just add one more element
to it. America is going to be engaged in the world.
This is not about turning inward, but we are going
to engage in the world based on what's good for America,
what's in the national interest of the United States. Does
what we're doing make the country safer, more secure, more prosperous.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
If it does, it's in our national interest.
Speaker 7 (27:20):
If it doesn't, it might be a nice thing to do,
but it won't be as high up on the priority list.
So that's where I think you see him engaging in
the world. He doesn't engage in every conflict and in
every topic. I mean, we have an opinion, we may
try to do something in the margins, but he gets
engaged and spends his time focused on things around the
world that directly impact the security and the prosperity of
(27:41):
the American people. If there's some place in the world
where Americans business can prosper and therefore help our economy,
the President's engage. If it's trade to benefit our factories,
our workers, the presidents engaged.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
If it's a threat to our national security.
Speaker 7 (27:55):
Whether it's now or something that looms three years down
the world, the President it's not going to leave it
as unfinished business, he engages.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
I'm worried about NATO.
Speaker 6 (28:04):
I felt that they didn't have the moral clarity on
the number one state sponsor of terror.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
That's troubling to me.
Speaker 7 (28:10):
Yeah, the problem with NATO and four And I've been
a supporter of NATO throughout my career in the Senate,
and one of the reasons why I supported NATO was
because it gave us basing rights. It allows us to
have bases in Europe that we could use in a
contingency like something in the Middle East, you know, where
you could have planes flying from some country in Europe
and actually protecting our national interest in the Middle East
(28:31):
as an.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Example, or in Africa.
Speaker 7 (28:33):
And so when you have NATO partners denying you the
use of those bases. When the primary reason why NATO's
good for America is now being denied to us by
Spain as an example, then what's the purpose of the alliance?
It starts becoming a you know, their allies when they
want to be kind and look to be fair. There
are countries in NATO that were very helpful to us.
(28:53):
I just singling went out Portugal, they said yes before
we even asked, told.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Them what the question was.
Speaker 8 (28:58):
Poland, Poland.
Speaker 7 (29:00):
So there are countries in Romania, Bulgaria, others like Spain
have been atrocious, just horrifying. So I do think there's
some very legitimate questions to ask about NATO, And that
is what is the purpose of being an alliance whose
benefit to us is these basing rights? If in a
time of conflict like the one we've had with Iran,
they can deny us the use of those bases, So
why are we there for only to protect them, but
(29:22):
not to further our national interests.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
This is a very legitimate question that we need to address,
and we've paid two thirds of the bill. The Secretary
great to say it, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
To America's top defender of freedom. Liberty and American values.
This is the Hennity Show.
Speaker 8 (30:09):
Hey, it's Mark Simone here for Sean Hannity. So there's
no more Marco Rubio. That's it.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
It's all Mark Simone.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Now.
Speaker 8 (30:17):
Oh my god, I gotta talk now, I gotta talk
for we missed you. Yeah, yeah, no, that was that
fascinating interview.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Doesn't Rubio do enough jobs? Thank you very much?
Speaker 8 (30:27):
Yeah, Rubio has done so many jobs. You know, everybody thought,
oh jd Vance twenty twenty eight. Uh, Rubio looks like
a jack of all trades man who can really And
when he.
Speaker 9 (30:38):
Was you know, when he was in Congress, he was
great in Congress. And even when he ran and they
had their sparring moments him and Trump, you know, they
got over it. And he's a big boy and took
on this great role. He's been crushing it.
Speaker 8 (30:49):
Yeah. Remember he was little Marco, Little Marco. Now he's
he's the adult in the room. Now he's the senior,
top most respected guy probably in that administration. So hey,
I just want to mention good news. The New York Times,
besides being the most partisan slanted paper ever, it's got
to be the most antisemitic paper ever. They have been
(31:10):
attacking Israel. Well, listen, this has been going on for
one hundred years, so they were involved in covering up
the Holocaust. The New York Times, they in the last
week went crazy attacking Israel, including I'd like to say this,
accusing Israel of training dogs to rape women. The columnist
(31:34):
Nicholas Christoff writing this in The New York Times. And
then they articles yesterday about Israel has been raping their
female prisoners. Just idiotic, ridiculous, ludicrous stuff. Well, bb Net
and Yahoo and the Israeli government have announced they're suing
the New York Times. They're filing a massive defamation suit
against the New York Times. Now Alan Dershowitz, who's been
(31:57):
talking about this for years with The New York Times,
I imagine, and he is very close to bb not
in Naho. Imagine Dershwitz will jump in and help this lawsuit.
But this will be this will be pretty interesting. It's
the Israeli governments suing the New York Times. There'll be
all kinds of what they call discovery, where all kinds
of documents, witnesses, everything can be uncovered. And this will
(32:18):
be a great, great moment to go after the New
York Times. Obviously, as we are not doing it for
the money. It's just to get back put a stop
to the anti semitism at the New York Times. What
are you smiling at, Linda, No.
Speaker 9 (32:30):
I mean the New York Times. It is just such
an incredible foundational piece of you know, literature in our history.
Even just today, as you were saying earlier, you know,
noticing one of the biggest moments in this trip to China,
like not enough women at the table.
Speaker 8 (32:46):
Yeah, that was the only thing.
Speaker 9 (32:47):
It's embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Please shut up.
Speaker 9 (32:49):
We're a meritocracy. It has nothing to do with your gender.
I could care less which genders at the table. It's
about who's best for the job.
Speaker 8 (32:56):
Have a nice day.
Speaker 9 (32:57):
New York Times.
Speaker 8 (32:58):
Yeah, New York Times. You know a million years ago,
have you said, oh, it's in the New York Times,
everybody was mad pressed. I know. Now if you say
it's in the New York Times, everybody goes, oh god,
why what happened? Yeah, it's I mean, if you had
to believe something of the National Inquirer or the New
York Times, I don't know, that's a tough choice. Hey,
so we're out of time. But Sean Handy, well, not quite.
Speaker 9 (33:20):
You got a little bit more time. Oh you've got
one minute left with us. I know it's a struggle,
but try to struggle. Try to, you know, manage through it,
my friend, and remind everybody. I mean, I know you're
too bashful, you know you're so shy. But you know,
Mark is one of the number one shows in all
of America in the morning. I mean he takes top
you know, top rank every single demo.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
Can you do listen to me ten to noon on
w R New York or on the iHeart app.
Speaker 9 (33:46):
And you can follow on an Instagram because he is
a bit of a photographer. He's a little shy about
that too, but he's very good.
Speaker 8 (33:51):
Mark Simone, NYC at Instagram. And what about the Linda podcast?
Speaker 9 (33:56):
Yeah, I have a podcast called the Rogue Recap. It's
not for the faint of heart, but yes I have one.
It's on iHeart. If you want to listen to it,
you can. I say a lot of things there, there
you go.
Speaker 8 (34:05):
And so I did my own show today Tendon and
plus I'm doing this show. There's a lot of work I.
Speaker 9 (34:10):
Want to listen. If I can have you here every day,
alongside shown I would we miss you?
Speaker 8 (34:13):
Mark Well, I miss you, but I'm glad it's over.
I hear music, I'm hungry, I want to go, so hey,
watch Hannity tonight, big interview with President Trump, and I'll
be back here tomorrow
The Sean Hannity Show News
Host
Sean Hannity
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