Staying (mostly) above the fray

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has largely avoided the food fight in Washington, and has weighed his words carefully when asked about the chat by reporters.

Rubio barely posted in the chat, only voicing praise that the strike was successful and noting that State Department chief of staff and counselor Michael Needham would represent the department as part of the “tiger team” being assembled by deputy national security adviser Alex Wong.

While on a trip to visit Caribbean allies this week, Rubio was asked by a reporter whether the administration should own up to the snafu. Rubio didn’t attack Goldberg or point the finger at any member of the Trump team. Instead, he framed the whole situation as a misunderstanding about the intent of the chat. He said the original purpose of the chat was for coordination of communication about the attack.

“This thing was set up for purposes of coordinating how everyone was going to call. You know, when these things happen, I need to call foreign ministers, especially of our close allies. We need to notify members of Congress. Other members of the team have different people they need to notify as well. And that was the purpose why it was set up,” Rubio said. “Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you ain’t supposed to be on that thing. So they got on there, and this happens.”