Marco Rubio Slides Private Note to Donald Trump During Televised Press Conference. Trump Looks Down and Reads It Aloud

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• President Donald Trump read aloud a private memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a press conference at the White House on January 9.

• Meeting with oil and gas executives, Trump read Rubio’s “Go back to Chevron” order in front of the entire room

• But the president didn’t seem to fully understand Rubio’s instruction.

Minister Donald Trump He appeared to embarrass the Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he read a private note from her aloud on live television during a press conference.

79-year-old Trump was attending an event Meeting with oil and gas executives The incident took place on Friday, January 9, at the White House.

The President was sitting between the Vice President J.D. Vance and Rubio, 54, during the press conference. After Trump invited Ryan Lance from ConocoPhillips to speak, Rubio was seen handing Trump a handwritten note, while 41-year-old Vance looked at him in surprise.

“Marco just gave me a note,” Trump told the room of executives. Rubio capped his pen and looked down, but quickly looked back at him when the president began reading the note out loud.

“Go back to Chevron,” Trump said of Rubio’s memo. “They want to discuss something. Go back to Chevron.”

Vance was clearly amused as he spoke; On one side of the president, Rubio was smiling with visible discomfort, while on the other side, he was laughing.

“Go ahead, I’m going back to Chevron,” Trump said, placing the note back on the table.

He then patted Rubio on the back and told him, “Thank you, Marco.”

“Was there a question, Mr. President?” A voice off camera was heard asking Trump; So he picked up the paper again and said, “Yes, go ahead,” and then he said, “Marco, what was it, what are you saying here?” he asked.

Energy Minister Chris Wright then took over and asked Chevron’s Mark Nelson to share updates on the company. As Nelson spoke, Rubio took the note back and folded it before folding it.

Rubio made headlines in the fall too Another note was written to Trumpwhich he gave to the president during a meeting with conservative influencers and the press on October 8, 2025.

The content of the note, recorded by photographers in the room, told Trump that he should approve a statement made on social media regarding an interim peace agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Rubio signaled Trump’s attention during the meeting before sharing a private update with the president that he needed to “approve” a social media post, suggesting that Trump did not write the post himself.

A photo taken by Associated Press The message appeared, which read: “You need to approve a recent Truth Social post so you can announce the deal first.” Trump immediately told those in attendance that he had good news.

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“The Secretary of State gave me a note saying that we were very close to an agreement on the Middle East and that they were going to need me very quickly,” he said. “Then we’ll take a few more questions.”

The AP reported at the time that Trump continued the meeting for another 10 minutes before telling the group that they should “try to solve some problems in the Middle East.”

“I’m very well represented by our foreign minister though. He could probably do a better job than me, but who knows,” he continued. “We don’t want to leave anything to chance. So we’re going to go ahead and do it.”

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