Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a sharp condemnation Thursday of those who pushed allegations that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, labeling the claims as politically motivated and unfounded.
Speaking on the Brian Kilmeade Show, Rubio described the now-debunked allegations as part of a broader disinformation effort allegedly funded by political adversaries.
“This dossier was a piece of campaign disinformation. It was paid for by political campaigns,” Rubio said.
He continued, “It is a huge outrage because it was fake. It was a lie. And they used it to mislead the American public. It cost millions of dollars in investigations, all chasing a hoax.”
Rubio’s remarks followed the release of documents by National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, which claim the Obama administration manipulated intelligence for political purposes during the 2016 election.
As former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Rubio referenced his own committee’s investigation, which he said uncovered “zero, zilch proof” of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. However, critics have accused Rubio of minimizing findings that did show confirmed Russian meddling.
“We can say, without any hesitation, that the Committee found absolutely no evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 election,” Rubio wrote in a 2020 statement.
“What the Committee did find, however, is very troubling. We found irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling.”
Rubio also pushed back on claims by some Democratic lawmakers attempting to associate him with Trump-Russia conspiracy narratives, calling their accusations “dishonest” and accusing them of conflating separate issues.
Gabbard’s newly declassified documents have reportedly been forwarded to both the Justice Department and the FBI to determine whether criminal activity was involved. Despite that, many Democrats have voiced skepticism.
Sen. Mark Warner, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s vice chairman, responded on X: “It is sadly not surprising that DNI Gabbard, who promised to depoliticize the intelligence community, is once again weaponizing her position to amplify the president’s election conspiracy theories.”
President Trump also weighed in, branding his predecessor the “ringleader” of the Trump-Russia probe.
A spokesperson for former President Obama dismissed the allegations, calling them “bizarre” and a “weak attempt at distraction.”
Rubio didn’t hold back criticism of the media either, claiming journalists have shown little interest in covering what he views as a significant misuse of intelligence resources.
“You had some of the highest-level officials in our intelligence agency in the country taking that fake, ridiculous dossier and using it to influence and inform an official intelligence assessment of what happened in this campaign,” Rubio said.
“The media is either uninterested or too lazy to understand those nuances and that reality.”
Turning to the topic of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Rubio said President Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with President Vladimir Putin’s lack of commitment to peace negotiations.
“What bothers the president the most is he has these great phone calls where everyone sort of claims, you know, we’d like to see this end if we could find a way forward,” Rubio explained. “Then he turns on the news and another city’s been bombed.”
Trump has described the allegations brought forth by Gabbard against Obama-era officials as “serious treason.”
Rubio said the administration is pursuing additional diplomatic channels but warned that Trump’s patience is not unlimited. On Tuesday, Trump gave Putin a 10-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face a new round of tough sanctions.
“So far, there’s not been what we feel, at least, sincere interest on the Russian side in achieving that objective,” Rubio said. “But obviously, the president’s not going to wait forever.”
