Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back forcefully against members of the media on Tuesday, accusing reporters of misrepresenting his remarks about the decision to strike Iran and defending the administration’s actions as necessary to protect American troops.
During a press conference, Rubio sparred with several reporters — including CNN’s Manu Raju — over comments he made a day earlier regarding Israel and the events that led to the U.S. strike on Iran.
The controversy stems from remarks Rubio delivered after a congressional meeting on Monday, when he explained the circumstances surrounding the administration’s decision to take action.
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action,” Rubio told reporters at the time. “We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
Some media outlets interpreted those comments as suggesting Israel’s actions drove the United States into the conflict. Rubio strongly rejected that interpretation, accusing journalists of pulling a portion of his statement out of context.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Rubio faced repeated questions about the remarks.
After already telling one reporter that his comments had been mischaracterized, Rubio was pressed again by CNN’s Manu Raju, who asked the secretary to clarify what he meant.
“Mr. Secretary, I want to just clarify what you said,” Raju began.
“There’s nothing to clarify,” Rubio quickly replied, telling the reporter that he needed to “read the whole statement.”
Raju then began reading the portion of Rubio’s remarks that had sparked the controversy.
“Your quote is, we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that would precipitate an attack,” Raju said.
“I understand,” Rubio responded, cutting in before the question was finished.
As the exchange continued, Rubio asserted control over the briefing.
“Hold on a second. Let me answer,” he said. “Because this is my press conference.”
Rubio argued that the media had selectively clipped part of his earlier comments while ignoring the broader explanation he had given.
“You guys can misrepresent it, but I was asked a specific question yesterday,” Rubio said.
He then laid out what he described as the simple reasoning behind the administration’s decision to strike first.
“The bottom line is this, the president determined we were not going to get hit first,” Rubio explained. “It’s that simple, guys.”
Rubio emphasized that President Donald Trump acted to prevent potential attacks that could have resulted in higher casualties among American forces.
“We are not going put Americans’ troops in harm’s way,” Rubio said.
He continued by saying that if the president is presented with intelligence suggesting that waiting could lead to greater loss of life, the decision becomes clear.
“If you tell the president of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the president’s going to go first,” Rubio said.
“That’s what he did, that’s what the president will always do,” he added. “He will always put the safety and security of men and women in uniform and of all Americans before anything else.”
Rubio concluded by saying that protecting American troops and citizens will always remain the administration’s top priority.
President Donald Trump also addressed the controversy Tuesday and rejected the idea that Israel had pressured the United States into military action.
“No, I might’ve forced their hand,” Trump told reporters.
The president explained that the administration had been engaged in negotiations with Iran but believed an attack from the regime was likely.
“You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics,” Trump said. “And it was my opinion that they were going to attack first.”
“They were going to attack if we didn’t do it,” the president continued. “They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that.”
Both Trump and Rubio insisted the decision to strike Iran was driven by the need to prevent potential attacks and to protect American lives.
[READ MORE: Trump Says U.S. Can Sustain Wars ‘Forever’ With Strong Munitions Stockpiles as Iran Conflict Escalates]
