Trump picks Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state | 13 Nov 2024 | Florida's senior senator is getting a promotion. President-elect Donald Trump nominated Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state. The conservative lawmaker is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate this summer. On Capitol Hill, Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has pushed for taking a harder line against China and has targeted social media app TikTok, because its parent company is Chinese.