Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Craig Melvin of NBC Today

QUESTION: Joining us now to talk about the administration's agenda at the United Nations this morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Secretary, welcome back. Thank you so much for your time this morning.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you. Thank you.

QUESTION: As President Trump has said, he aims to finish this war soon. Mr. Secretary, what does victory look like? Is it the total eradication of Hamas, or do you still see a pathway to a political compromise there?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, first of all, the goal is not to end the war. The goal is to have peace. And obviously, you can't have peace as long as Hamas exists. This is a group dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state. They've said it and repeatedly said that. And so - and that's what they've demonstrated throughout their existence. So it's not about eradicating Hamas as much as it is about peace. You can't have peace as long as Hamas exists.

By the way, I think as an elemental step of that is the hostages need to be released. There are 20 living hostages; they should all be released. The bodies of the deceased should also be released. There should never have been any hostages. So I think that has to happen.

And then what you hope to have, if there is no more Hamas, then I think the people of Gaza have a chance, with the help of many countries around the world - including the United States would participate in that - to rebuild it into a place where people can live again, never have to live again under the governance of an evil group like Hamas, and have a better future. I think that's what we'd all hope to see accomplished. And we have a very narrow window of time now to hope to achieve that before this escalates further.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, as you know, France, Canada, the UK - about 145 other nations - now recognize the Palestinian state. Are you at all concerned that the United States of America is becoming more isolated on that particular issue?

SECRETARY RUBIO: No, I'm not concerned at all. None of the countries you just mentioned really will play much of a role in bringing about the end of this conflict in Gaza.

QUESTION: Is that about -

SECRETARY RUBIO: That's why we continued to be engaged. Everybody continues to come to us to make a difference. I do think it serves as a - I mean, the only relevance of the decision they have made, because it really is them responding to their own domestic politics, protesters in their streets and things like that. But it also is a reward for Hamas. It really is. It makes Hamas feel like they carried out this massacre on October 7th and now they get this in return. But it really won't be relevant at the end of the day. The truth of the matter is that any future resolution of this matter with Israel is going to have to be negotiated. It isn't going to be up to France or the UK or any other country.

QUESTION: Let's talk about Ukraine now, another big topic at the UN this week, of course. We are roughly a month out from that summit in Alaska between the President and President Putin. Since then, a roughly 50 percent increase in drone attacks, 50 percent increase in missile attacks as well. Is it possible that we misread President Putin's intentions in Alaska?

SECRETARY RUBIO: No, I think we've always known that his intentions are to take Donetsk, for example, and he's defined that openly. I think the hope we have, since we're the only country in the world that can really talk to both countries involved in this - we're the only ones that can talk to Ukraine and Russia, and everyone's encouraged us to play that role. At some point that role might end. As you can see, the President's already repeatedly expressed his deep disappointment at the direction that Putin is taking this, even after Alaska. And at some point he may have to decide to impose new sanctions.

But I think it's important for Europe to impose sanctions, too. Right now there are countries in Europe that are still buying massive amounts of oil and natural gas from Russia, which is absurd. I mean, they're asking for the U.S. to impose more sanctions, but there are countries in Europe that are not doing enough. So I think they need to do more. We've already seen the measures we've taken with regards to India, although that's something we hope we can fix. But - and the President has the ability to do more, and he's considering doing more because of the direction this has taken.

But let's remember, he didn't start this war. He inherited it, and all he's wanted to do is end it. And he's going to do everything he can, give it every chance in the world to succeed. The minute we go heavy on the sanctions and everything else, our ability to act as a broker to bring about peace is diminished, and this war then goes on for another two years and hundreds of thousands of more people will die. So we're trying to avoid that. We hope to avoid that.

QUESTION: Sure.

SECRETARY RUBIO: But ultimately, that's not up to us. That's up to Putin. If he decides not to take that offer, then unfortunately we'll have to do what we have to do.

QUESTION: To be fair, you are right. We're about the third - I think three years into the war. The President repeatedly, though, did say that he would end the war in Ukraine on day one, and we are some 250 days into the administration.

Let's talk U.S. and China here, Mr. Secretary. As you know, we are apparently -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, but that's not up - we didn't - that's not up to us to end the war. The Russians have to stop the war.

QUESTION: Well, yes. But -

SECRETARY RUBIO: And the Ukrainians have to agree to a peace deal. What the President expressed is that it would be a priority of his. And it has been. I don't think anyone could argue that it hasn't been a priority.

QUESTION: Yes. But again, repeatedly on the campaign trail he said he would end it on day one. We're 246 days into the administration.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think - which is an indication that he repeatedly said that he would make it a priority. He certainly has done more than Biden ever did to end the war. Biden didn't even have a plan for the war.

QUESTION: Let's talk about the U.S. and China and the TikTok deal. That's important to a lot of folks, as you know, especially young people. It looks like there is the framework of a deal. We've been repeatedly told that the reason this is happening is because there is concern that the Chinese are using the algorithm to manipulate folks in this country and also steal data from folks in this country. What can you tell us about how this deal is going to address those concerns?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I'm not going to get into the details of the deal because they still need to be finalized. I think all the things you pointed to in your question are certainly considerations, which is why the ownership of the group that's actually going to control this app here in the U.S. and how it's used in the U.S. is critical. That's why those who handle the data is critical. That's why having insight into the algorithm is critical. And all those things are sort of dealt with in the constructs of this outline.

But it still needs to be - I think we're - the framework is in place. It's been negotiated. The Treasury Secretary went over there and negotiated the outlines of it, as well as the Vice President has been very involved in this. But it still needs to be finalized. Suffice it to say all the things you've just raised are part of the considerations that went into putting this deal together.

QUESTION: Yeah. Really quickly, Mr. Secretary, as you probably know, Jimmy Kimmel returning to late night tonight. The Vice President at one point suggested that you should be hosting late night. Amid all of the political violence we've seen in this country over the last few months, are you at all concerned that it may be impacting America's reputation abroad? There was a Republican senator who said we're starting to look like a third world country.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we certainly aren't treated like one. Every country in the world, every meeting I have, all they want us to do is to get more involved in solving some problem important in their region. So I think the United States today strongs not - today stands not just stronger, but more influential than it has ever been on the world stage despite media reports, despite idiotic commentary - commentators that know nothing about what's happening here. Every meeting I go to it's about someone asking us to get involved - in Lebanon, with Syria, in Israel and Gaza, in Ukraine, in the Indo-Pacific.

QUESTION: Sure.

SECRETARY RUBIO: And look what the President's done and the wars he's brought about to an end - Thailand and Cambodia, India and Pakistan. Time and again, the President has been the only leader in the world that can get involved. That doesn't sound like a third world country to me. That sounds like a very powerful, influential country who is stronger and more respected on the world stage.

QUESTION: Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Secretary, thank you for your time, sir.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you.

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