Secretary of State Marco Rubio is facing mounting criticism after a photo from a high-level diplomatic meeting in the Middle East sparked questions about who was granted access to the room and why.
The image, which Rubio shared himself, quickly became the focus of a backlash that followed him from social media into a tense exchange with reporters.
The meeting took place Wednesday, June 24 during Rubio’s visit to Abu Dhabi, where he joined United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and other senior regional officials as the Trump administration sought to reassure allies following the president’s Iran ceasefire announcement.
But attention shifted away from the diplomacy onto Tiffany Trump’s businessman husband Michael Boulos who was seated to Rubio’s right.
“Met with UAE’s President @MohamedBinZayed in Abu Dhabi, where we discussed President Trump’s MOU with Iran, efforts to secure full and safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and regional stability,” Rubio wrote on his X account with the photo.
By Thursday, June 25, in Kuwait City Rubio must have begun to realize how the optics of bringing Boulos, a Trump family member, along were playing out.
When a reporter asked him about it, Rubio turned bright red and began stammering and stuttering his way through an answer.
“Michael Boulos?” Rubio asked, at first pretending he didn’t understand the question or the point. “Oh, he was there to see, his brother lives here. He was just there to see me and catch up.”
Another reporter pressed the secretary, asking pointedly if the meeting was a working lunch.
“There was, but he wasn’t, the conversations around him had to do with, he was just here because his brother lives here and I’m a good friend of Michael’s, so we had a chance to catch up,” Rubio bumbled before quickly leaving the room as critics allege he was well aware of the ethical concerns of bringing a so-called “friend” to such a meeting.
Social media erupted in disbelief with many commenters remarking on the obvious corruption of bringing a Trump family member to such a high stakes engagement.
“You’re ‘catching up’ during an official meeting in Kuwait? Is that the same way Jared Kushner ‘catches up’ with $ billions in the Middle East? Is every Trump family member and pal a grifter?” an X user wondered.
Another mocked, “Ah, it was bring your bosses’ son-in-law to work day. So cute! I hope the little tyke learned something! Holy hell.”
“So fun watching Little Marco surrender every last drop of his dignity to go along with this malarkey Literally everything Trump touches is corrupt,” another proclaimed.
This one agreed, “Yes, @SecRubio, it’s totally normal to call someone up and say, ‘Hey, bud! I’m in town. Thought you might want to sit in some official meetings at the highest levels of government even though it’s gonna look like some kind of corrupt bull–.’”
Another X user pointed out, “Wasn’t it a meeting about foreign policy? Trump’s son in law and the Secretary of State are friends so they re-unite in a government meeting at the American taxpayers’ expense? This lunacy and waste must end. How many members of the grifting Trump crime family are on the dole?”
Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman, married Tiffany Trump, who is Trump’s daughter with his second wife Marla Maples, in 2022 and is clearly smack dab in the middle of the discussions, despite Rubio trying to play it off like a lunch between family and friends.
Boulos’ father Massad Boulos is Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African Affairs and news reports indicate the families fortunes have taken a marked upturn since marrying into the Trump family.
A statement from the secretary’s office even shows how serious the high-stakes meeting was with Rubio and UAE officials discussing “President Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran, efforts to secure full and safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, and the importance of peace and stability in the region.”
“They also discussed the strong bilateral U.S.-UAE ties and continued partnership in the areas of defense and commerce,” the statement continued before adding that Rubio praised UAE leadership “their courage and resilience in the face of Iran’s attacks and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the security of the Emirates.”
