Marco Rubio
Role at the time: U.S. Secretary of State, speaking to reporters in Greece before leaving the country
Statement summary
Asked in Greece about the Journal report, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his job was not to respond each time someone gave the media material without warning, and said a report based on a source was not the gospel to him.
“Our job is not to respond every time someone decides to give the media something without any advance warning. You guys somehow walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it's the gospel. It's not the gospel. It's not the gospel for me.”
CNN transcript of The Lead with Jake Tapper. The Guilfoyle segment includes a clip of Secretary of State Marco Rubio answering questions in Athens, a clip of Vice President JD Vance answering a hypothetical question, and an interview with Eric Deters.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is Eric Deters's allegation that Kimberly Guilfoyle, shortly before her July 2025 Senate confirmation hearing, asked him to pay her $100,000 American Express bill while offering to help him reach senior Trump administration officials. Explicitly stayed out: Rubio says it is not his job to respond every time someone gives the media something without warning, and the Associated Press reported that he said he would not address the report. The closest competing label is Challenged the characterization; it loses because his comments about sourced reporting explain his refusal to engage rather than dispute any part of Deters's account.