Free Republic

With four hats, including national security adviser, the former Trump rival is defying predictions he’d be a weak player. Marco Rubio is doing big things under President Donald Trump — way more than nearly anyone expected. The secretary of State was once thought of as one of the weakest players in the Trump orbit, a man who wouldn’t last long in the Cabinet because he faced many internal rivals and had major policy differences with Trump and the MAGA base. But Rubio has deftly earned the president’s trust, enough so that Trump this week gave him another powerful job as...

Vice President-elect JD VANCE, a prominent GOP skeptic of U.S. aid for Ukraine, met with a delegation of senior Ukrainian officials and other members of President-elect DONALD TRUMP’s inner circle in Washington on Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter confirmed. The Ukrainian delegation traveled to Washington to meet with Vance as well as Rep. MIKE WALTZ (R-Fla.), Trump’s pick to be his national security adviser, and retired Gen. KEITH KELLOGG, Trump’s pick to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. The meeting, according to these people, was meant to be a meet and greet for both sides to get...

There may be only seven weeks left for meaningful fighting in Russia’s war on Ukraine, and both sides are gritting their teeth for what could be the last big push. -snip- As time runs short before the once-and-future president reenters the White House on January 20, Ukraine’s Western-backed military and the Kremlin’s invading forces are straining to take territory and whatever tactical advantage they can — with an eye on increasing their leverage before talks begin. -snip- Trump’s choice of peace envoy is also instructive. In April, Kellogg, 80, coauthored a strategy paper calling for continuing to arm Ukraine but...

The Trump administration is barring Iran’s top diplomat from entering the United States this week to address the United Nations Security Council about the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top military official in Baghdad, violating the terms of a 1947 headquarters agreement requiring Washington to permit foreign officials into the country to conduct U.N. business, according to three diplomatic sources. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif requested a visa a “few weeks ago” to enter the United States to attend a Jan. 9 Security Council meeting on the importance of upholding the U.N. Charter, according to a diplomatic source familiar with...