Senate Democrats express regret over Rubio confirmation votes

Two Senate Democrats are expressing regret that they voted to confirm their former colleague Marco Rubio to become secretary of State in the Trump administration.

Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) both said they regretted backing Rubio while appearing for interviews on the Sunday shows.

Murphy told CNN's "State of the Union" it was "a mistake" that he voted for Rubio.

“I think a lot of us thought that Marco Rubio was going to stand up to Donald Trump on issues like this,” Murphy said.

“I did vote for Senator Rubio to be secretary of State,” Van Hollen said on "Fox News Sunday."

“I regret that, though, because, as a member of the Senate, Secretary Rubio was somebody who stood up for American values and American principles.”

Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the Senate just hours after President Trump was sworn into office in January, becoming the president's first confirmed Cabinet secretary. The son of Cuban immigrants, he’s the first Latino American to be secretary of State.

The former GOP senator-turned U.S. diplomat has drawn Democrats' ire recently after he and other Trump administration members met last month with Russian officials about ending the war without Ukrainian officials present.

Rubio also praised Trump's handling of his fiery Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, which Democrats and some Republicans have panned. He called for Zelensky to apologize to Trump following the blowup and cast doubt if the Ukrainian leader actually wanted to achieve peace.

Van Hollen said Sunday he understands Rubio is following Trump’s lead on foreign policy, but argued the early moves are a stark contrast to views he put forward in the Senate.

“He acknowledged that Russia was the aggressor against Ukraine. He realized that it wasn’t Zelensky who was the dictator,” Van Hollen said on Fox.

“And now, he’s simply taking his directions at the State Department from Elon Musk and essentially parroting the president’s position.”

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