Secretary of State Marco Rubio sparred with CBS host Margaret Brennan over Vice President Vance’s speech in Munich.
Rubio joined Brennan on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where he was asked what Vance accomplished by meeting with a leader of the far-right political group Alternative for Germany (AfD) and saying the biggest threat to Europe is censorship.
“Why would our allies or anybody be irritated by free speech and by someone giving their opinion?” Rubio questioned. “We are, after all, democracies.”
Rubio highlighted the countries involved at the Munich Security Conference, where Vance lambasted European officials and accused them of censoring speech they disagreed with.
“The Munich Security Conference is largely a conference of democracies in which one of the things that we cherish and value is the ability to speak freely and provide your opinions,” Rubio said.
Rubio argued that no one has to agree with Vance’s comments but that his speech was “historic.” The vice president’s actions drew sharp criticism.
“I thought it was actually a pretty historic speech, whether you agree with him or not,” Rubio said. “I think the valid points he’s making to Europe is we are concerned that the true values that we share, the values that bind us together with Europe, are things like free speech and democracy and our shared history in winning two world wars.”
Brennan pushed back on Rubio, arguing that Vance’s comments have been criticized because he was in Germany, a country with a fraught history, and made the controversial remarks.
“I have to disagree with you,” Rubio said. “Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews, and they hated minorities.”
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