Secretary of State Marco Rubio leads US to Munich Safety Convention

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio is main the U.S. delegation to the high-profile Munich Safety Convention — one 12 months after Vice President JD Vance took the German stage in a speech that surprised many in Europe and have become one of many defining moments of Trump’s early second time period overseas.

"President Trump has assembled probably the most gifted group in historical past, together with Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio, who're working in lockstep to notch wins for the American folks," White Home spokeswoman Olivia Wales informed Fox Information Digital forward of Rubio's speech.

"The President and his group have flexed their international coverage prowess to finish decades-long wars, safe peace within the Center East, and restore American dominance within the Western Hemisphere. The whole administration is working collectively to revive peace by means of power and put America First."

The Munich Safety Convention is an annual high-level discussion board in Germany that attracts tons of of senior decision-makers — together with heads of state, prime ministers, army leaders and coverage influencers — for closed-door and public talks on international safety crises.

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Vice President JD Vance took the German stage one 12 months in the past in a speech that surprised many in Europe and have become one of many defining moments of Trump’s early second time period overseas. (Matthias Schrader/The Related Press)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California are amongst notable Democrats attending the convention, along with Rubio.

Vance turned one of many central figures on the 2025 Munich gathering after a broadly publicized speech that drew heavy consideration and applause from conservatives following the Biden administration. It additionally sparked backlash amongst some European officers who considered his remarks as confrontational.

Rubio's attendance on the 2026 assembly follows a prolonged historical past of the State Division chief incomes a sequence of various roles underneath the second administration, together with appearing nationwide safety advisor, secretary of state, appearing archivist of america and appearing administrator of the U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth.

Amid rising trans-Atlantic rigidity, the secretary of state issued a warning to Europe as he departed for his journey to Germany Thursday.

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"The Previous World is gone," Rubio informed reporters as he departed for Europe Thursday. "Frankly, the world I grew up in, and we stay in a brand new period in geopolitics, and it'll require all of us to re-examine what that appears like and what our function goes to be."

President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly have put Europe on discover for allegedly devolving right into a tradition of political correctness, speech policing, and a safety system that closely depends on U.S. funding and army would possibly. Amid the rhetoric on Europe, the administration has continued to underscore the significance of U.S.-Europe relations, together with Rubio on Thursday.

"We’re very tightly linked along with Europe," he informed reporters. "Most individuals on this nation can hint each, both their cultural or their private heritage, again to Europe. So, we simply have to speak about that."

<source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/01/672/378/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-foreign-relations-venezuela.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/01/1344/756/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-foreign-relations-venezuela.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/01/931/523/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-foreign-relations-venezuela.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/01/1862/1046/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-foreign-relations-venezuela.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> Secretary of State Marco Rubio seems earlier than the Senate Overseas Relations Committee to elucidate President Donald Trump's coverage towards Venezuela following the U.S. army raid that ousted then-President Nicolas Maduro, on the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Picture)

Vance used his Munich Safety Convention speech to ship a blunt warning to Europe’s political class 2025, arguing the continent’s greatest hazard is just not Moscow or Beijing, however what he described as inner democratic decay that has festered as a consequence of political correctness and censorship.

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He accused European governments and establishments of drifting towards censorship, citing insurance policies he mentioned police speech, curb spiritual expression and strain on-line platforms. He additionally argued elites allegedly had been making an attempt to handle elections and debate by dismissing unwelcome outcomes and branding dissent as "misinformation" to sideline populists and blunt voter backlash.

"What I fear about is the risk from inside, the retreat of Europe from a few of its most elementary values — values shared with america of America," Vance mentioned in 2025 within the speech that left many European leaders surprised, in keeping with stories on the time.

Vance is also abroad this week, holding conferences with Armenia and Azerbaijan, together with signing a peaceable nuclear cooperation with Armenia and a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan.

That journey adopted each Vance and Rubio becoming a member of a bilateral assembly with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni earlier in February in Italy, and Vance main a delegation that included Rubio throughout the Olympics' opening ceremony in Milan.

A supply acquainted informed Fox Information Digital that there have been by no means plans for the vp to attend the 2026 convention in Munich.

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Vance’s international coverage footprint turned topic of political media scrutiny earlier in 2026 when the U.S. army efficiently captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Vance was not amongst high-profile U.S. leaders who joined Trump at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort to observe the operation, in contrast to Rubio who was with the president.

The VP's workplace dismissed media alarm over his absence, citing Trump and Vance restrict the "frequency and period" of time they spend collectively exterior the White Home as a consequence of "elevated safety considerations."

The vp is under no circumstances is anticipated to attend the Munich Safety Convention annually, with former Vice President Mike Pence, for instance, attending the convention twice underneath the primary Trump administration, and former Vice President Kamala Harris attending thrice underneath the Biden administration. Earlier secretaries of state corresponding to John Kerry, Antony Blinken and Hillary Clinton have attended and addressed the physique in earlier years.

Vance moreover attended a separate Munich Safety Convention occasion, the Leaders Convention, in Washington, D.C., in Could 2025.

Trump praised Vance's 2025 speech as "good" in a press release to reporters on the time, remarking that "they're dropping their great proper of freedom of speech" in Europe and that Vance made a robust case in opposition to a lot of Europe's lax immigration polices.

Since then, Trump’s group repeatedly has echoed the identical critique in official channels, together with a State Division push that has blasted European speech restrictions and focused the European Union’s Digital Companies Act as "Orwellian" censorship, alongside new visa restrictions geared toward international officers accused of censoring Individuals on-line.

President Donald Trump holds up his signature on the founding constitution throughout a signing ceremony for the Board of Peace on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2026. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photos)

Simply in December 2025, Trump blasted European nations for not being "recognizable" on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland, teeing up what might be one other fiery speech from Individuals on European soil on Saturday.

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"I do not need to insult anyone and say I do not acknowledge it," Trump mentioned throughout his particular handle in Davos. "And that is not in a constructive method. That is in a really destructive method. And I really like Europe and I need to see Europe do good, but it surely's not on course."