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Times of Israel – Jan 12, 2024

US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Senator Marco Rubio (above) to be his secretary of state and Rep. Michael Waltz as national security adviser, The New York Times reported Monday, pushing the emergent cabinet in a hawkish, pro-Israel direction.

Three people familiar with Trump’s thinking on Rubio said the president-elect could still change his mind, but appeared settled on the Republican Florida senator, who was also on the shortlist to be Trump’s running mate, the Times said. The appointment of Waltz, a third-term Republican congressman from Florida, is final, according to two people familiar with the decision cited in the report.

The two will be key architects of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, with the incoming US president having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and avoid any more American military entanglements.

Rubio and Waltz will join the strongly pro-Israel New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, whom Trump named as his ambassador to the United Nations on Monday.

Rubio, arguably the most hawkish option on Trump’s shortlist for secretary of state, has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to America’s geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba. In 2016, Rubio slammed then-candidate Trump for pledging neutrality on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.