WATCH: Rubio gives first remarks after confirmation as Trump’s secretary of state

Secretary Marco Rubio took the helm of the State Department just hours after taking the oath of office.

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Trump’s first confirmed cabinet appointment, Rubio entered the department through its main entrance to loud applause and cheers before addressing his new employees in the same lobby in which former Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered farewell remarks to the building Friday.

READ MORE: Senate confirms Marco Rubio as secretary of state, giving Trump the first member of his Cabinet

“The voters decide the course of our nation, both domestically and abroad, and they have elected Donald J. Trump as our president when it comes to foreign policy on a very clear mission,” Rubio said. “And that mission is to ensure that our foreign policy is centered on one thing, and that is the advancement of our national interest, which (was) clearly defined through his campaign as anything that makes us stronger or safer or more prosperous.”

Marco Rubio is sworn in as secretary of state by Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025. Photo by Kevin Lamarque/ Reuters

Trump has been publicly skeptical of the value of the State Department since his first term in office and, as he has done with with other agencies, accused some in the diplomatic corps of working to blunt or derail his policy priorities.