Senator blasts Rubio for attending UFC 'party' as Iran negotiations collapsed

While testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s floundering efforts to end the war with Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced accusations that he was busy enjoying himself “at a party” when he should have been negotiating a peace deal. His attempt to deny the accusation prompted a back-and-forth that has raised eyebrows.

The exchange arose when Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) suggested that Rubio was partying as Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were in Pakistan negotiating with the Iranians. Historically speaking, the Secretary of State is considered the country’s top diplomat and would be tasked with helming such pressing talks. But instead, Rubio was with Trump at a UFC fight as the talks fell apart.

“That’s embarrassing for us,” said Rosen. “Congress represents the American people. We have the power to confirm who represents America abroad. We confirmed you to be our secretary of state. We confirmed you to be in the negotiations that are happening. And it’s just unthinkable to me that you are missing high-stakes negotiations.”

"You're 100 percent inaccurate and 100 percent wrong. I was at a party?” Rubio asked, saying, “If people are going to slander me I'm going to answer it.” He went on to insist that he spoke with negotiators at least six times. "I know your staff wrote up this cute statement for a TikTok video but it's not true.” Rubio’s defense was that he was not partying but was “co-located with the president in the midst of a high-stakes negotiation so that I could immediately inform him about events occurring halfway around the world.”

Photos of Rubio at the UFC fight circulated in April showed him bleary-eyed amidst a jocular atmosphere. As he and the president spent the evening watching the fights, negotiations in Pakistan broke down. By the time the fight was over, Vance had signaled that he was returning to the U.S., the talks having failed.

On his way to the fight, Trump had assured reporters asking about the war — then in its sixth week — that, “We win, regardless. We’ve defeated them militarily.” That was nearly two months ago, and as of now, peace negotiations are still ongoing.