Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Sunday brushed off criticism he and another GOP lawmaker received for tweeting out photos from a video call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky—even though participants were specifically asked not to share any pictures on social media.
Rubio—the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee—and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) were blasted by Democratic lawmakers after they both tweeted images of the Ukrainian leader, while noting they were currently on a call with him about the Russian invasion.
“The Ukrainian Ambassador very intentionally asked each of us on the zoom to NOT share anything on social media during the meeting to protect the security of President Zelensky,” Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) wrote on Saturday. “Appalling and reckless ignorance by two US Senators.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“The lack of discipline in Congress is truly astounding,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) added. “If an embattled wartime leader asks you to keep quiet about a meeting, you better keep quiet about the meeting. I’m not saying a damn thing. Lives are at stake.”
A little more than a week into Russia’s unprovoked war with Ukraine, Zelensky—who has been hiding out in various underground bunkers in Kyiv—has reportedly already survived three assassination attempts. And as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody attack against his sovereign neighbor rages on, the United States and other allies have broached who might take over if Zelensky were to be killed or captured.
Rubio and Daines, however, have been unapologetic amid the pointed backlash over their social-media posts. On Saturday, a spokesperson for Daines said his post contained “no identifying information” and the request not to share any images came after he tweeted. And a representative for Rubio said it was a “widely reported Zoom call” that included over 160 lawmakers, adding, “Anybody pretending this tweet is a security concern is a partisan seeking clicks.”
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning, Rubio continued to accuse Democrats of chasing clout with the incident.
Asked by anchor Jake Tapper “if it was true” that call attendees were told not to share images for security reasons and whether he felt it was a mistake to post the photo, the Florida senator asserted he did nothing wrong.
“First of all, she asked that 30 minutes into the call, after I had already done it. Second, I think she was under the impression that no one knew that call was happening,” Rubio responded. “That call had been widely reported and the specific time had been reported. There were over 300 people on it, all the call details had been emailed. There was nothing secure about that call.”
He continued: “And that picture is just a nondescript picture, it looks like all the other ones you’ve seen out there publicly. There’s no risk posed. But you’re always gonna have a couple people who want their name in an article somewhere, or their name in the press.”
In another interview on ABC’s This Week, Rubio further dismissed the criticism he’s received, insisting he did not put Zelensky at risk and that the request from Zelensky’s team came well into the call.
