Rubio Jokes About Getting 'Bilingual Protesters' After Being Interrupted During Hearing: 'That's a First Here'

Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio joked after being interrupted for the second time during his opening statement on Wednesday, this time by a protester who yelled, in Spanish, that "las acciones de marco rubio están matando niños in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela" which translates to "Marco Rubio's actions are killing children in Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.

After the interruption, Rubio said he was "getting bilingual protestors", which received laughs from the committee and the packed room.

Rubio is the second Trump nominee whose confirmation hearing has been interrupted by protestors in as many days. On Tuesday, during Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense, Capitol Police removed three protesters in a matter of minutes after each of them started yelling during the hearing. One of them yelled, "You are a misogynist." Hegseth paused as law enforcement stepped in to remove them.

Rubio has consistently taken a hawkish stance on several key foreign policy issues, emphasizing a hardline approach toward countries like China, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia.

On Venezuela, Rubio has been a vocal critic of Nicolás Maduro's regime, playing a key role in pushing for sanctions against the country and consistently calling for the removal of Maduro, whom he views as a dictator. As for Cuba, Rubio's stance is similar, backing for strong opposition to the Cuban government. He has supported sanctions aimed at weakening the Cuban regime and has criticized any moves to normalize relations with Havana, calling for greater U.S. support for Cuban dissidents.

This is a developing story