From the CBS:
"Full transcript: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 17, 2025
The following is the full transcript of an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 17, 2025.
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MARGARET BRENNAN: Vladimir Putin did not give President Trump the ceasefire he sought. And now Putin says the root causes of the conflict have to be resolved in a peace agreement. Isn't the root cause the fact that Russia invaded in the first place?
SEC. RUBIO: Well, ultimately, yeah. But I mean, what he means by root causes is this long historical complaints that we've heard repeatedly. This is not a new argument, he's been making this for a long time, and it's the argument that it's Western encroachment. I don't want to get into- it's just so long. But the bottom line is that all of- you know, we're not going to focus on all of that stuff. We're going to focus on this: are they going to stop fighting or not? And what it's going to take to stop the fighting. And what it's going to take to stop the fighting, if we're being honest and serious here, is both sides are going to have to give, and both sides should expect to get something from this. And that's a very difficult thing to do. It's very difficult because Ukraine obviously feels, you know, harmed, and rightfully so, because they were invaded. And the Russian side, because they feel like they got momentum in the battlefield, and frankly, don't care, don't seem to care very much about how many Russian soldiers die in this endeavor. They just churn through it. So I think what the President deserves a lot of credit for is the amount of time and energy that his administration is placing on reaching a peace agreement for a war that's not a war that started under him. It's half, you know, it's on the other side of the world. That said, I mean, it's relevant to us. But there are a lot of other issues he could be focused on. So tomorrow, we'll be meeting with President Zelenskyy. We'll be meeting with European leaders. We just met with Putin. He's dedicated a lot of time and energy because he has made it a priority of his administration to stop or end war- stop wars or prevent them. And right now, this is the biggest war going on in the world. It's the biggest war in Europe since World War Two. We're going to continue to do everything we can to reach an agreement that ends the dying and the killing and the suffering that's going on right now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You know this well, how long these kind of diplomatic negotiations often take. President Trump was telling European leaders what was discussed was Putin demanding control of Donetsk, a region in the east that his forces do not fully hold, and the UK estimates that taking that full area could be as long as another four years. Putin also is demanding Russian be an official language in Ukraine, and something regarding Russian Orthodox churches. Did the U.S. accept all of what Putin laid out at that table?
SEC. RUBIO: The United States is not in a position to accept anything or reject anything, because ultimately, it's up to the Ukrainians. They're the ones that Russia has to make peace with, Ukraine with Russia--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --Well, the President said he did come to some agreement--
SEC. RUBIO: --It's up to the Ukrainians to make these conditions... We'll be discussing all of these things, because ultimately, we do need to find areas where we're making progress and try to begin to narrow the gap between the two sides. But there's a reason why this war has been going on for three and a half years, and that is, when it comes to the big issues here, there are still some big differences between both sides. Let's see how much progress we can continue to make. It's- it's- it's not been easy, but it's something the President's made a priority. Peace. And he deserves a lot of credit for that.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But ultimately, if- if Vladimir Putin is going to be offered land that he has not seized yet, but negotiates his way into, doesn't this set a dangerous precedent that the United States now accepts this concept that it is okay to seize land by force?
SEC. RUBIO: Well, Putin has already seized land by force, and that, in and of itself, is not a positive precedent. This whole war is a negative precedent--
MARGARET BRENNAN: -- Are you demanding withdrawal?--
SEC. RUBIO: --precedent. Well, again, here's the- in order to have a deal here to end- to reach the end of this conflict, both sides are going to have to make concessions. That's just the facts--
[CROSSTALK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: But does that mean accepting--
SEC. RUBIO: --in any negotiation--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --where Russian forces are now?
SEC. RUBIO: No, no, but, if- But this is not about acceptance. This is about what Ukraine can accept. And what Russia can accept... Territories will have to be discussed...
MARGARET BRENNAN: I understand you, you can't get into specifics in a public conversation, but we're looking at Russian troops and strikes intensifying. Did you hear anything from Vladimir Putin that indicated he is willing to make a single concession?
SEC. RUBIO: Well, I think there are a couple. I mean, there were- not enough for Ukraine, if not we would be announcing a peace deal this morning, right? But- but certainly, there are some things we notice changes... This is a war. It's going to get worse. It's not going to get better, and that's why the President is investing so much time in bringing this to an end. And, by the way, everyone is begging us to be involved in this. The Europeans want us involved. The Ukrainians want us involved. Obviously, the Russians want us involved because the President is the only leader in the world- if this is possible, he's the only one that can help make it happen.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, he's got the leverage over Vladimir Putin if he wanted to crush his economy or at least do more damage to it, but you have held off on those secondary sanctions. President Trump told Fox News his advice to President Zelenskyy is make a deal, Russia's a very big power and they're not. You know there is concern from the Europeans that President Zelenskyy is going to be bullied into signing something away. That's why you have these European leaders coming as back up tomorrow. Can you reassure them?
SEC. RUBIO: No, it isn't. That's not why they're coming as back- that's not true. No but that's not, why, that's not true. They're not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelenskyy from being bullied. They're not coming- in fact --
[CROSSTALK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well that February Oval Office meeting in front of television cameras, where President Zelenskyy was dressed down --
SEC. RUBIO: -- Do you know how many meetings we've had since then?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, no, I know. And I was just up in Alaska --
SEC. RUBIO: Yeah, but we've had a bunch of meetings since then.
MARGARET BRENNAN: -- watching the one with Vladimir Putin where a red carpet was rolled out for the Russian leader. It was very different--
SEC. RUBIO: -- No, but it wasn't Zelenskyy. We've had more meetings, we've had, we've had, we've had one meeting with Putin and like a dozen meetings with Zelenskyy. So that, but that's not true. They're not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelenskyy from being bullied. They're coming here tomorrow because we've been working with the Europeans. We talked to them last week. There were meetings in the UK over the following, the previous weekend --
MARGARET BRENNAN: -- And they said the President Trump was going to demand a ceasefire --
SEC. RUBIO: -- The President's talked to these leaders as early as Thursday. No, no, but you said that they're coming here tomorrow to keep Zelenskyy from being bullied. They're not coming here tomorrow- this is such a stupid media narrative that they're coming here tomorrow because the- Trump is going to bully Zelenskyy into a bad deal. We've been working with these people for weeks, for weeks on this stuff. They're coming here tomorrow because they chose to come here tomorrow. We invited them to come. We invited them to come. The President invited them to come.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But the President told those European leaders last week that he wanted a cease fire. The President went on television, said he would walk out of the meeting if Vladimir Putin didn't agree with him. He said there would be severe consequences if he didn't agree to one. He said he'd walk out in two minutes. He spent three hours talking to Vladimir Putin, and he did not get one, so--
SEC. RUBIO: --Because obviously something, things happen during that meeting..."
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