Marco Rubio at Senate confirmation hearing
Marco Rubio at Senate confirmation hearingReuters/Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto

The US Senate confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state on Monday in a swift and unanimous vote, giving President Donald Trump his first Cabinet member on Inauguration Day, The Associated Press reported.

Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, is considered one of Trump’s least controversial nominees. The vote was decisive at 99-0.

“Marco Rubio is a very intelligent man with a remarkable understanding of American foreign policy,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican, as the Senate session began, according to AP.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune emphasized the urgency of the process of confirming Trump’s candidates for his Cabinet, stating that voting on Trump’s nominees would begin “imminently.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer clarified his party’s approach to the voting process and said, “We will neither rubber-stamp nominees we feel are grossly unqualified, nor oppose nominees that deserve serious consideration.”

Rubio, Schumer noted, is “a qualified nominee we think should be confirmed quickly.”

A seasoned senator and former rival to Trump in the 2016 presidential race, Rubio has grown closer to the president over the years. Last week, he fielded questions during his confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee, where he has served for over a decade.

During that confirmation hearing, Rubio was asked about the International Criminal Court's recent decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"I think the ICC has done tremendous damage to its global credibility. First of all, it is going after a non-member state" Rubio responded. He criticized ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's claims that the ICC has the right to go after non-member states.

"I think ... that the whole premise of his prosecution is flawed," Rubio said, "beyond the process of it and the precedent that it sets, which is a very dangerous precedent for the United States of America, by the way, because this is a test run. This is a trial run to see, 'Can we go after a head of state from a nation that's not a member?' If we can go after them and we can get it done with regards to Israel, they will apply that to the United States at some point. And in fact, there have been threats to do so in the past."

He also stated during the hearing that the incoming administration plans to end the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.

“Yes,” Rubio replied when asked whether the new administration would overturn the sanctions, before adding, “Without speaking out of turn, I’m confident in saying that President Trump’s administration will continue to be perhaps the most pro-Israel administration in American history.”