While testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was involved in a tense exchange with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) concerning his meeting with a suspected human trafficker and MS-13 gang member in El Salvador.
Van Hollen and fellow Democrats have extensively lobbied for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was deported to his native El Salvador earlier this year. The senator had the distinction of being the first Democrat lawmaker to visit Garcia when he sipped margaritas with him inside a fancy hotel.
During a tense exchange in Tuesday’s hearing, Van Hollen told Secretary Rubio that he regretted his vote to confirm his nomination earlier this year. “Well, first of all, your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job. Based on what I know about your record and what you’ve been doing,” Rubio shot back.
A visibly enraged Van Hollen then demanded that he given a chance to respond to the “flippant statement,” at which point he was reminded that he used his time and the floor now belonged to Secretary Rubio.
The secretary went on to express his…
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