Marco Rubio testifies to Congress on Iran war and mass deportations: Live updates

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers the Iranian navy is “at the bottom of the ocean.”

“Today, there is no Iranian navy. There is no such thing. There’s a bunch of Boston Whalers with machine guns on them, but there is no navy. There is no Iranian navy. It lies at the bottom of the ocean, and will soon, within a number of years, be prime fishing spots, because they’ll turn into reefs,” he said.

Today marks Rubio’s first public testimony since the war with Iran began in late February.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended his budget proposal in his opening remarks.

“Foreign policy cannot be separated from economic policy, from border policy, from energy policy, from any of these other spheres that are critical to our national interest,” Rubio told lawmakers.

“A country that cannot build ships or produce medicine or control immigration or access vital resources cannot defend its people, cannot defend its interests, and cannot defend its way of life. So our foreign policy continues to be reoriented around the real foundations of national strength. This budget is yet another step, I believe, in that direction,” he continued.

Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen blasted Secretary of State Marco Rubio for requesting budget reductions amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.

“You’re asking for a 44% reduction in the State Department budget that includes eliminating the World Health Organization, it includes eliminating all disease-specific funds in the middle of an Ebola crisis that’s affecting Americans. Yet no one from your department can explain to us why this is a good idea,” she told Rubio.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying now before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Demonstrators have gathered on Capitol Hill to protest Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he arrives for a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Last week, former Attorney General Pam Bondi told lawmakers that her successor, Todd Blanche, was responsible for the chaotic release of the so-called Epstein files.

Now, Blanche is expected to face questions about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein investigation when he appears before lawmakers this afternoon.

Read more about Bondi’s testimony below:

The plan has sparked pushback from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, with critics labeling it a “slush fund” for his supporters.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to face questions from lawmakers about the fund when he testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee this afternoon.

Read more about the fund below:

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s testimony will be his first since his confirmation hearing in March, when he replaced Kristi Noem, his scandal-plagued predecessor.

His appearance on Capitol Hill comes after multiple DHS insiders complained that the former Oklahoma senator is “barely in the building,” according to The Daily Mail.

“Mullin seems to think DHS requires less work than a senator, and it shows,” one told the outlet.

When reached by The Independent, a DHS spokesperson dismissed the report’s claims as “complete garbage.”

Rubio’s back-to-back hearings are supposed to be focused on the State Department’s budget request, but lawmakers are expected to spend much of their time grilling him over the war with Iran, Politico reports.

The war, launched in February by the U.S. and Israel, remains ongoing following a series of failed diplomatic talks.

On Monday, Iran announced it was suspending peace talks over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, which have reportedly hampered U.S.-Israeli relations.

President Donald Trump reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “You’re f***ing crazy…You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this,” according to one U.S. official who summarized the call to Axios.