A photographer managed to capture a crucial message that Secretary of State Marco Rubio discreetly passed on to Donald Trump via a handwritten note during a roundtable discussion on Wednesday.
As the president convened with a group of conservative influencers at the White House to discuss Antifa, Rubio, situated in the back corner of the Blue Room, succeeded in catching his attention. The Secretary of State signalled that he had significant news for Trump, but stressed it would need to wait until the media had left.
The influencer meeting had already overrun by an hour when Rubio initially made his move. The president gestured him forward, and Rubio quietly relayed something to Trump before handing him a handwritten note. The news comes as Trump sends ‘Antifa elites’ warning to ‘people he dines with’ in new threat.
An AP photographer present at the gathering zoomed in on the handwriting scribbled on White House stationery. It read: “You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first.”
The president is renowned for embarking on extensive tirades on his Truth Social platform, frequently venting his fury at his adversaries in all-caps at any time of day or night. However, the note handed to him by Rubio implies that Trump doesn’t compose all his own social media posts but approves them, reports the Mirror US.
It seems that the president’s team had drafted a post for him so that he could be the first person to announce that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the initial phase of a Gaza peace deal.
“I was just given a note by the secretary of state saying that we’re very close to a deal on the Middle East, and they’re gonna need me pretty quickly,” Trump announced. “So we’ll take a couple of more questions.”
Despite receiving the message from Rubio, Trump continued to engage with the influencers and answer media queries, while the secretary of state appeared increasingly impatient.
Nearly 10 minutes after his initial comments about leaving, Trump stated: “I have to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East – although I’m very well represented by our secretary of state. He could probably do an even better job than me, but who knows.
“We don’t want to take any chances. So we’re going to go and do that,” Trump went on. He then suggested that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stay behind and field questions in his absence.
However, Trump continued to respond to questions until the meeting eventually ended without any Cabinet members remaining. “We’re gonna get peace in the Middle East,” Trump concluded.
“That’s what we want to do.”
At 6:51 pm – approximately two hours after Rubio first delivered the message to Trump – the president turned to his social media platform to make the announcement.
“I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,” Trump posted on Truth Social, indicating that all hostages will be released “very soon” and Israel will pull back their troops “to an agreed upon line.”
Trump continued: “This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”.
The urgency of the announcement became apparent as Trump’s chief Middle East adviser, Steve Witkoff, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and other senior officials engaged in a third consecutive day of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas at an Egyptian resort on Wednesday.
Trump had kicked off the influencer event by telling gathered reporters that he planned to travel to the Middle East “toward the end of the week” and could even “make the rounds” throughout the region to Egypt and possibly the Gaza Strip as US negotiators edged closer to a deal.
