Politico: Richard Grenell, Bill Hagerty and Mark Rubio are running for US Secretary of State

AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
Donald Trump, who won the US presidential election, is considering Florida Senator Marco Rubio as a candidate for the head of the State Department, Politico reports citing a congressional source who attended a meeting of Trump campaign staff members with conservative congressmen.
Rubio (53), who has been a member of the Senate since 2011, is the author of numerous initiatives for sanctions against Russia.
Back in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, he requested that Russian banks be excluded from SWIFT, and then presented similar ideas in January 2022, on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine.
Rubio also initiated personal sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials.
In 2015, he called Putin a "thug" and insisted on diplomatic isolation of Russia.
After the election, Rubio, who serves as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the war in Ukraine had reached a "stalemate."
"Ukrainians were incredibly brave and strong. But in the end, what we are funding is a stalled war that is time to end," he said.
At the same time, according to Rubio, "you don't have to be a Putin fan to want the war to end."
In addition to Rubio, according to Politico, Sen. Bill Hagerty is also running for secretary of state, as is Richard Grenell, the former US ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence.