US secretary of state Marco Rubio sparked laughing during Tuesday’s International Women of Courage Award service by laughing that director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was “probably spying there” after she missed the event.
As per The Mirror, Rubio’s note came amid conversations about Gabbard’s recent Senate Intelligence Committee hearing regarding the” Signalgate” incident.
Rubio made the comment while acknowledging officers from US President Donald Trump’s government, including lawyer public Pam Bondi, director of small business Kelly Loeffler, director of training Linda McMahon and secretary of labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
” We’re missing Tulsi Gabbard, because she’s likely spying somewhere right now”, Rubio quipped, drawing smiles from the crowd.
Gabbard, the former Democratic lawmaker now serving as the US knowledge captain, just appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee over allegations that top Trump officials, including the secretary of defense, discussed battle plans over the encrypted messaging apps Signal.
During a Senate reading, Senator Mark Warner pressed Gabbard about her probable position in the chat. ” Director Gabbard, did you participate in the class talk with the secretary of defense and other Trump senior officers discussing the Yemen war strategies”? Warner asked.
” Uh, Senator, I don’t want to get into the specific”, Gabbard responded, before Warner interrupted:” You were not’ TG’ on this class talk”? Gabbard declined to confirm or deny, citing an ongoing National Security Council assessment.
As per The Mirror, CIA producer John Ratcliffe later admitted he was part of the Signal talk and defended the process, stating that using the software was acceptable under Biden-era policies as long as important decisions were publicly recorded.
However, Warner pushed back, demanding that the messages be disclosed. ” If there was no classified material, share it with the committee! You can’t have it both ways”, he argued.
Rubio, meanwhile, faced separate tensions with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. After Rubio warned of a “very bad day” for Venezuela due to a security agreement he signed with Guyana, Maduro lashed out, calling Rubio an “imbecile”. ” The imbecile Marco Rubio comes out threatening Venezuela from Guyana”, Maduro said at an event, insisting Venezuela could not be intimidated.
While the intelligence discussions continued, the International Women of Courage Award ceremony, where Rubio made his remarks, was led by First Lady Melania Trump. As per AP, she praised eight honourees for their bravery, including Israeli lawyer Amit Soussana, who survived 55 days in Hamas captivity. ” Every single day that passes is another day of unimaginable suffering”, Soussana said, urging the world to act.
Now in its 19th year, the award recognizes women from around the world for exceptional leadership, courage, and advocacy, often at great personal risk. More than 200 women from over 90 countries have been honoured since its inception in 2007.
