Democrat Sens. Chris Murphy and Chris Van Hollen said they regretted voting to approve Marco Rubio for secretary of state in separate interviews on Sunday.
In an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union, Murphy claimed that Rubio had failed to stand up to President Donald Trump as he had hoped.
“You voted to approve his nomination to be secretary of state,” Bash said. “You still think you made the right choice?”
“It was a mistake,” Murphy said twice. “I think a lot of us thought that Marco Rubio was going to stand up to Donald Trump on an issue like this.”
Murphy added that Rubio had proven a “great disappointment” to many senators.
Rubio was unanimously confirmed as secretary of state in the Senate in January after Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, endorsed his nomination.
In a separate interview with Fox News Sunday, Van Hollen also conceded that he wished he had not voted Rubio through.
“I regret that vote,” Van Hollen said. “As a member of the Senate, Secretary Rubio was somebody who stood up for American values, American principles.”
He also noted that Rubio had previously recognized Russia as the aggressor against Ukraine.
In his interview with CNN on Sunday, Murphy also said he would skip Trump’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday.
“I think that the State of Union speech is going to be a farce. I think it’s going to be a maga pep rally, not a serious talk to the nation,” Murphy said. “I think Donald Trump is going to spew a series of lies ... ”
“I’m just not going to be a part of that,” he added.
