President Donald Trump appeared to put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an awkward spot during a White House press appearance on Friday, Jan. 9, when he read a handwritten note from Rubio aloud on live television.
Trump, 79, was meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House. He sat between Vice President JD Vance and Rubio, 54, at the table. At one point, after Trump invited ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance to speak, Rubio passed a note toward the president as Vance, 41, looked on.
“Marco just gave me a note,” Trump said to the room. Rubio capped his pen and glanced down, but his attention snapped back as Trump began reading.
“Go back to Chevron,” Trump read. “They want to discuss something. Go back to Chevron.”
Vance broke into laughter as Trump spoke, while Rubio smiled in apparent discomfort.
“Go ahead, I’m going back to Chevron,” Trump added, setting the note back on the table.
A voice off camera then asked, “Was there a question, Mr. President?” Trump picked up the paper again and replied, “Yes, go ahead,” before turning to Rubio and asking, “Marco, what was the, what are you saying here?”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright then stepped in and directed Mark Nelson of Chevron to give an update. As Nelson spoke, Rubio retrieved the note, folded it, and tucked it away.
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A Similar Note Drew Attention in 2025
Rubio had made headlines previously for another message he passed to Trump during an Oct. 8, 2025 meeting with conservative influencers and members of the press.
Photographers captured the contents of that note, which urged Trump to approve a social media statement about a tentative peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. The message read: “You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.”
After receiving the note, Trump told attendees he had positive news.
“I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we’re very close to a deal on the Middle East, and they’re gonna need me pretty quickly,” he said. “So we’ll take a couple of more questions.”
The Associated Press reported at the time that Trump continued the meeting for roughly 10 more minutes before saying he had to “try and solve some problems in the Middle East.”
“Although I’m very well represented by our secretary of state. He could probably do an even better job than me, but who knows,” Trump added. “We don’t want to take any chances. So we’re going to go and do that.”
