Secretary of State Marco Rubio schools a dishonest Tammy Duckworth during a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Credit: C-SPAN screenshot
Secretary of State Marco Rubio put forth such a master class performance against one of the Senate’s most loathsome Democrats that Vice President JD Vance felt compelled to weigh in in awe.
As TGP’s Jordan Conradson reported, Marco Rubio sat down for testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning to discuss the Trump Administration’s policy on Venezuela.
This was Rubio’s first public testimony since the Trump Administration’s arrest of Venezuelan tyrant Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
During the hearing, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) tried to ambush him with a variety of smears and lies, only for Rubio to showcase her for the fool she is.
She started by (deliberately?) confusing the Alien Enemies Act with a declared war in Venezuela, which Rubio pointed out was two separate things.
After Duckworth quickly interrupted him upon hearing this truth, Rubio was able to educate her by noting that Trump was talking about narco-trafficking gangs such as Tren de Aragua that have been waging war on America for years.
Then Duckworth started lying about the Trump Administration kidnapping people and torturing them under the Alien Enemies Law, but Rubio quickly set her straight and went on to detail how great a threat these criminal gangs pose to America.
Duckworth then later tried to lie about Trump wanting to send troops to Venezuela, which Rubio called her out on. Defeated, she then moved on and started ranting about forever wars and NATO before her time finally ended.
WATCH:
DUCKWORTH: Are we currently at war with Venezuela?
RUBIO: No.
DUCKWORTH: The Supreme Court has the Alien Enemies Act as a wartime power…And before that, the Alien Enemies Act was only invoked during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II, when it was used to intern thousands of innocent civilians.
Are you really arguing that the president should be able to wield an internment law?
RUBIO: No, no, no. We’re talking about two separate things here. You’re talking about the state of Venezuela and describing the regime. We’re talking about…
DUCKWORTH: (interrupts with more nonsense)
RUBIO: What the president was talking about were these gangs and these narco-trafficking groups that are waging war on the United States. For example, Tren de Aragua is not just a criminal gang presence in our streets; it is a criminal gang directly responsible for narcotrafficking.
DUCKWORTH: Mr. Secretary, the Administration has admitted that the vast majority of people that it rounded up and deported to torture under this law had no criminal record whatsoever. Over 75%.
RUBIO: Who did we torture? We didn’t torture anybody. We’ve arrested people who are members of gangs and we’ve deported them.
DUCKWORTH: Many “independent” investigations have determined the men were here legally…Again, I want to ask you: will you ask the president to recind his invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act?
RUBIO: Of course not. These are people who are threats to the national security of the United States. I’ve explained this at hearings in the past.
DUCKWORTH: Are you saying we’re at war?
RUBIO: When it comes to narco-trafficking groups, criminal gangs…There’s no doubt we’re in a state of war.
DUCKWORTH: The Geneva Convention…
RUBIO: They’re waging war against us, and they are enemy combatants as a result of it. And that’s one of the great challenges of the new century in this hemisphere: these nonstate actors with state-like capabilities in terms of their weaponry pose a grave threat to the United States.
DUCKWORTH: Will you comply with all the laws when it comes to warfare? You’re saying that he can invoke this wartime power?
RUBIO: No, I’m here to discuss foreign policy and what’s in the realm of the Department of State…
DUCKWORTH: (continues muttering about Alien Enemies Act and tries to again lecture Rubio about its history)
RUBIO: You’re asking me to opine on something that is in the realm of the Department of Justice. I can tell you that the United States is most certainly confronting terrorists and criminal organizations operating in our hemisphere that pose a grave danger to the U.S.
Anyone who believes that gangs who flood our country with cocaine and fentanyl are not threats to the United States is not living in reality and does not reflect the opinion of most Americans.
DUCKWORTH: The president already said he was ready to put troops in Venezuela again. So, we’re at war.
RUBIO: When did he say that?
DUCKWORTH: What is your criterion for the military option?
RUBIO: I don’t recall the president saying he was going to put troops in Venezuela. When did he say that? That’s what you said.
DUCKWORTH: The president has already said he is willing to put troops in Venezuela.
RUBIO: No, the president says he retains the right as commander-in-chief to protect the United States against any imminent threats.
DUCKWORTH: I worry you are playing fast and loose with our nation…
RUBIO: I just gave you testimony about how well things are moving forward.
DUCKWORTH: But you also said in 6 to 9 months, if things don’t go well, you’re going to have to do something else! The President has not ruled out the military option, and you said we’re at war…
RUBIO: I just gave you an example. Every president retains the right to defend the United States against an imminent threat. (Goes on to cite an example of Iranian drones in Venezuela)
We’re not at that point, and we don’t expect to get to that point.
DUCKWORTH: We don’t need to get into another forever war.
RUBIO: How are we in another forever war?
(After some back and forth about NATO, the committee chair finally shut Duckworth down and moved on to Senator Mike Lee of Utah.)
Vance, who was clearly watching the hearing, weighed in on Duckworth’s embarrassing performance and Rubio’s brilliance with an incredibly apt comparison.
The VP said Rubio played the part of English polymath and total genius Issac Newton to Duckworth’s low-IQ Forrest Gump.
“Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Issac Newton,” Vance wrote.
Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forest Gump argue with Isaac Newton.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 28, 2026
The post Marco Rubio Humiliates Dem Senator Duckworth When She Rudely Interrupts and Ambushes Him with Nasty Lies During Hearing – VP Vance Weighs In with a Great Observation (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.