Some are grieving; some will dance on its grave. Hershey Canada is discontinuing Cherry Blossom, the novelty sweet that consists of a syrupy maraschino cherry encased in milk chocolate with bits of coconut and peanut.
“After being a cherished deal with for Canadians for a few years, Hershey Canada confirms that Cherry Blossom will likely be discontinued throughout the nation in early 2025,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement despatched to CBC Information.
“This Canadian confectionery icon has created candy reminiscences for generations of followers.”
The bonbons have been initially produced on the Lowney Manufacturing unit in Montreal, which was inbuilt 1905. Hershey Canada took over the model within the Nineteen Eighties. The sweets are immediately recognizable from their easy yellow packaging.
However not everybody who’s tasted one would agree it is a “cherished deal with.”
Montrealers shared a variety of opinions on the sweet with CBC Thursday afternoon. Steven Eisenberg mentioned he appreciated Cherry Blossoms when he was youthful, and now he finds the sweet “type of gooey and silly.”
WATCH | Montrealers and consultants weigh in on the Cherry Blossom’s demise:
Cherry Blossoms, the century-old deal with as soon as made in Montreal, will likely be discontinued
Love them or hate them, the chocolate candies have their place within the metropolis’s historical past — a historical past coming to an finish with Hershey’s Canada ceasing manufacturing.
Morgan Thomas had by no means tasted a Cherry Blossom earlier than. She tried one on the spot and gave a reside overview to CBC: “It is alright,” she mentioned, grimacing. She declined to complete it.
Emilie Lavery additionally ate a Cherry Blossom, a staple of her youth. “I can not erase the previous,” she conceded. “So I prefer it.”
A love-hate relationship
Canadians have a “love-hate” relationship with the Cherry Blossom, particularly those that grew up within the ’70s and ’80s, mentioned Jordan Lebel, a professor of meals advertising and marketing at Concordia College’s John Molson College of Enterprise.
“Instances have gotten troublesome within the confectionery enterprise. It is extraordinarily aggressive,” he mentioned, citing new expertise that assist producers create extra advanced merchandise, like chocolate with sea salt-infused caramel.
Customers, in the meantime, are on the lookout for treats that “shock them and take them some other place,” he mentioned.
“I am undecided that the parents at Cherry Blossom had managed to seek out the successful components to re-engineer the product.”
Lebel famous that retailers most likely aren’t eager on giving high shelf house to a chocolate that hasn’t advanced a lot, however mentioned that the cherry-chocolate mixture is a uncommon one, and one other firm may attempt to pursue the identical area of interest.
* The “Trendy Household” actress was photographed on what gave the impression to be a lunch date with F1 driver Lewis Hamilton in New York Metropolis on Tuesday.
* Vergara, 52, and Hamilton, 40, braved the chilly and met up with a couple of of his buddies at a restaurant, the place they had been on full show whereas sitting facet by facet by the window.
* For the outing, Vergara confirmed off her curves in a one-shoulder black bodysuit paired with dishevelled denims and a white coat. She accessorized her look with oversize sun shades and a crossbody bag. Hamilton, alternatively, appeared cozy in a brown plaid shirt with a brown jacket, dishevelled denims and a brown bucket hat.
* Vergara’s current date with Hamilton comes only a week after she advised “Entry Hollywood” that she was manifesting “well being, cash [and] a boyfriend” for the brand new yr.
Winnipeg, MB – The Metropolis of Winnipeg reminds residents to take vital precautions during times of extraordinarily chilly temperatures.
The next are some winter security ideas to bear in mind:
Older adults and really younger youngsters ought to keep away from extended out of doors publicity.
Examine on older mates, relations, and neighbours who stay alone.
Acknowledge the signs of hypothermia: confusion, shivering, issue talking, sleepiness, stiff muscle mass. If these signs are current, search fast medical consideration. Extreme hypothermia might be life threatening.
Carry pets inside and restrict the period of time they spend exterior.
Residents ought to name 9-1-1 instantly in the event that they see somebody who wants assist or is injured on account of excessive chilly. When calling 9-1-1, report the particular person’s location and situation. At any time when doable, stay with the person till emergency crews arrive.
Residents can heat up at Metropolis services in durations of chilly climate, when open.
For ideas and data on learn how to keep protected, see: winnipeg.ca/coldweather.
Photograph-Illustration: by The Minimize; Images: Getty Photos
I spy with my little eye two scorching well-known individuals getting lunch in Manhattan. Per TMZ, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and Sofia Vergara had been noticed guffawing over a two-hour meal on Tuesday, and save for the very fact that there have been different individuals on the desk, it virtually regarded like a date.
Logistically talking, this pairing would make sense. As soon as motorsport’s infamous playboy, Hamilton has been single for fairly some time. The 40-year-old as soon as dated maybe-MAGA woman Nicole Scherzinger and was linked to Shakira in 2023, although he now spends most of his time both on the observe or pampering his vegan bulldog, Roscoe. As for Vergara? She’s been tearing up the city as a single girl following her divorce from Joe Manganiello. So not less than from an availability standpoint, I’d really feel snug waving a checkered flag for these two.
Onto my subsequent query: What do a race-car driver and an actress ten years his senior discuss for two-plus hours? In keeping with onlookers on the restaurant, one thing so riveting that Vergara “barely touched her meals.” Maybe the dialog revolved across the perils of being horny or what the within of a Mercedes smells like after three hours of racing. Or, I don’t know, possibly they simply stared into one another’s eyes for prolonged durations of time. Actually, that may be sufficient for me to neglect about my meals. In any case, wishing these two many extra entertaining lunch dates.
The problems Vancouver is going through proper now are fixable, he added
“I imply, I’m an optimistic man, and I consider in our group,” Hughes stated. “In saying that, it’s recreation 44 tonight and we have to be figuring our stuff out, shortly.”
Alex Turcotte scored for the Kings simply 51 seconds in and 9:42 into the primary interval, L.A. jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
Falling behind early has develop into a pattern for Vancouver this season with the group conceding the primary aim in 26 of 44 video games.
“It’s powerful, but it surely occurs within the recreation generally,” stated winger Phillip Di Giuseppe. “And I feel we’re on the level the place we’re sick of it. We’ve acquired to determine it out.”
The Kings had 4 pictures once they scored their third aim of the evening.
All three tallies got here “due to blunders,” stated Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet.
“We’ve acquired to appropriate it. I’ve acquired to appropriate it,” he stated. “I can’t let it go. I can’t play two strains. So I would like a few of these guys to step it up, even when they simply play impartial, simply so long as they don’t make some egregious errors.”
Permitting odd-man rushes had been amongst these errors.
L.A. broke out of Vancouver territory on an influence play halfway by means of the interval the place Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore charged up the ice with defenceman Carson Soucy seeking to impede their progress.
Driving in, Fiala unleashed a blast from low hash marks that sailed in previous Thatcher Demko and put the Kings up 4-1.
Requested the place his group goes from right here, Tocchet stated he wants gamers to step up, focus and stick collectively.
“You get punched within the mouth and also you get again up. Can’t stop on your self or your teammates,” he stated.
“Should you’re on this enterprise lengthy sufficient, you’re going to get these conditions. And character guys, management, all that stuff normally comes out of it. So we’re on the lookout for these forms of individuals proper now.”
MILLER TIME
Canucks centre J.T. Miller logged 14:34 in ice time Thursday, properly down from the 19:29 he averaged final season when he put up 103 factors for Vancouver.
Tocchet stated the 31-year-old American is struggling.
“It looks like each time he’s on the ice, one thing unhealthy occurs,” the coach stated. “I feel he’s acquired some unhealthy luck, however he’s additionally acquired some reads that he’s acquired to take a look at himself proper now, give attention to a few of these reads. … I feel he’s attempting, generally. I feel the main focus degree has to get just a little increased.”
TURCOTTE TERRIFIC
Turcotte registered two objectives and an help for the Kings, marking his first multi-goal NHL recreation.
The 23-year-old winger stated it was an necessary milestone in a profession speckled with prolonged accidents.
“It’s been nice this 12 months,” Turcotte stated. “It’s been the whole lot I’ve dreamed of and to undergo the adversity earlier in my profession, this positively feels good. However I need to hold pushing. I’m not happy. I need to hold going and see the place I can go from right here.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 16, 2025.
Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley could have had one of the talked-about movie star relationships popular culture has ever seen, however solely a uncommon few received to watch the couple up shut — considered one of them being actress Riley Keough, the “Now What” singer’s daughter.
And in a dialog with Alex Cooper on a Name Her Daddy episode posted Wednesday (Jan. 15), the 35-year-old Daisy Jones & The Six star shed some uncommon perception on her mother’s romance with the King of Pop. “The one factor I do know is that they have been in love, and that their love for each other was real,” Keough advised the podcast host. “Every little thing else I don’t know, as a result of I wasn’t there for it.”
Lisa Marie — Elvis’ solely baby, who died at 54 years previous in January 2023 — shared Riley and late son Benjamin Keough with first husband Danny Keough. The “To Whom It Might Concern” songwriter was later married to Jackson from 1994 to 1996, after which she wed Nicolas Cage (2002-04) adopted by music producer Michael Lockwood (2006-21), with whom she shared twin daughters.
Whereas talking to Cooper, Riley additionally mirrored on how her childhood modified when the “Thriller” singer — who died in 2009 — entered the image. “Our life wasn’t crazier,” she mentioned candidly. “That already existed: the press, the loopy, the paparazzi and all that.”
“I believe when she noticed Michael’s life, there have been issues he had that she didn’t have,” continued the Below the Bridge actress. “Earlier than that, she was with my dad, and their life was quite simple. She didn’t have 10 million assistants. She didn’t want all that, and I believe that modified.”
“There was numerous closing down issues for us,” Riley added of the time interval. “It was type of the one means our household may do issues, like if we wished to go to a toy retailer, one thing like that, or trip rides.”
On a extra severe observe, Riley additionally addressed the allegations of kid molestation her onetime stepfather confronted throughout his lifetime, about which she mentioned she “was by no means advised something” when she was a child. Jackson was acquitted on all costs of kid molestation in his 2005 trial – with his property additionally persevering with to emphatically deny all abuse allegations made towards him — however two males named Wade Robson and James Safechuck have continued to assert that the famous person sexually abused them as kids in civil lawsuits and within the 2019 HBO docuseries Leaving Neverland.
“I believe it simply was what it was,” the actress mentioned of the controversy, noting that she’s by no means sought out extra info on the matter since changing into an grownup. “We didn’t know something. We didn’t know in regards to the allegations. We had no consciousness of that.”
Take heed to Riley Keough speak about her mother’s relationship with MJ on Name Her Daddy beneath.
VANCOUVER — When the Vancouver Canucks beat the Los Angeles Kings on Nov. 7, no one might have guessed after Sport 12 that it would show to be the head of the Canucks’ season.
The 4-2 win gave them a powerful three-game sweep of California, and 7 wins in 9 video games. The sputtering and misfiring of the Nationwide Hockey League’s opening month gave the impression to be behind them.
“I really feel like each recreation, we’re sort of getting nearer to the 60 minutes,” J.T. Miller stated that evening within the guests’ dressing room at Crypto.com Area. “It looks as if all people’s simply getting a bit extra on the identical web page and we now have extra urgency.”
“It was a fantastic highway journey,” Tyler Myers stated, “and we simply need to maintain constructing.”
Except you had been there to really feel the positivity, confidence and hopefulness pulsing from the workforce that evening, it’s tough to completely grasp how a lot the temper and tone round them have been battered by the 2 months since then.
That long-ago California dream boosted the Canucks’ document to 7-2-3 and felt like a launch level for a workforce aiming to eclipse final season’s 109 factors.
Thursday’s dispiriting 5-1 loss at dwelling towards the identical Kings felt just like the crash, the termination of what has been a tumultuous, sad journey.
It isn’t the tip, in fact, even when it felt that means within the first 10 minutes when the Canucks surrendered three absurdly straightforward objectives. Certainly, the Kings would have scored much more had they not been shorthanded for 4 minutes of that point attributable to a pair of inept Vancouver energy performs.
We’re not silly sufficient to name the Canucks’ season with 38 video games to go and the workforce, in some way, nonetheless just one level out of a playoff spot.
However the way in which they performed Thursday, fully unengaged and unfocused at first (after getting torched 6-1 Tuesday by the Winnipeg Jets on the finish of a tough highway journey), demonstrated how hollowed out they’ve turn out to be. They’re unattainable to acknowledge as final yr’s workforce.
The one similarity the Canucks bore Thursday to the group that gained in L.A. two months in the past is that Quinn Hughes, who scored in each video games, continues to be among the best defencemen on this planet.
The Canucks are 12-13-7 since Nov. 7.
At midseason, they’re useless within the NHL water, showing to everybody however themselves to be going nowhere.
“You get punched within the mouth and also you get again up,” coach Rick Tocchet instructed reporters late Thursday. “You possibly can’t give up on your self or your teammates. When you’re on this enterprise lengthy sufficient, you are going to get these conditions. Character guys, management, all that stuff often comes out of it, so we’re in search of these kind of individuals proper now.”
Possibly they don’t have sufficient of them.
It took the Canucks solely 51 seconds to fall behind. When Miller shorted his financial institution cross to Filip Hronek within the offensive zone, the defenceman went for it anyway and was trapped, giving Los Angeles a two-on-one. Hughes allowed Adrian Kempe’s goalmouth cross to Alex Turcotte to make it 1-0.
And after Canuck defenceman Vincent Desharnais then challenged and fought Tanner Jeannot, whose blindside hit away from the puck knocked Brock Boeser out of that Nov. 7 recreation and out of the lineup with a concussion, Vancouver responded by surrendering two extra objectives in 24 seconds.
Turcotte scored simply on an enormous rebound from goalie Thatcher Demko to double the lead at 9:18, after Miller was badly crushed on the level by Kevin Fiala. And Kempe completed off a three-on-two rush to make it 3-0 at 9:42 when Canuck Elias Pettersson was bypassed within the impartial zone and rookie call-up Jonathan Lekkerimaki coasted on his backcheck.
Boeser missed seven video games together with his concussion and, however for a four-game scoring binge at Christmas, has struggled to make an influence since his return. Whereas Boeser was out, Miller started his 10-game private depart of absence.
And he has not been the identical participant since.
“It is exhausting,” Miller stated Thursday evening. “I am attempting to be mentally robust. And I believe that is the place your character reveals, in moments like this. So in the present day, my mindset was to work my ass off and see what occurs. And I actually nonetheless suppose I did that, nevertheless it’s simply expensive errors proper now. I simply must focus extra.
“It does not matter what I do, I am on the flawed facet proper now, and it is on me. I am a frontrunner on the workforce, and the workforce expects me to be quite a bit higher than this. In order that’s my focus.”
Miller didn’t register a shot in 14:34 of ice time towards the Kings and has gone 5 video games with out a level.
“Yeah, he is struggling,” Tocchet stated. “He is caught in between. You already know, it looks as if each time he is on the ice, one thing unhealthy occurs. I believe he is bought some unhealthy luck, however he is additionally bought some reads that he is bought to have a look at himself proper now and concentrate on a few of these reads. I believe he is attempting. I believe the main focus stage has to get a bit larger.”
The identical applies to the workforce, and no one else has required a depart of absence to cope with private points.
“It has been powerful,” winger Phil Di Giuseppe stated. “We’re all sick of shedding, so we have got to get by way of this. And the one means by way of it’s collectively.”
It’s tough to think about normal supervisor Patrik Allvin and president Jim Rutherford persevering with to be affected person with the Canucks and permitting this group of gamers to work out the issues themselves.
The Canucks have gained seven of twenty-two video games at Rogers Area this season. They’ve scored zero or one purpose in six of the final 9 video games. The workforce is 3-6-5 since Dec. 16.
“After all, we imagine in one another,” Miller stated. “There’s good elements of seasons and unhealthy. Proper now, all I can fear about is myself and the way I will be a greater participant and put my teammates in a greater place to succeed.
“We’re by no means going to level fingers. It’s a bunch right here. It’s on us.”
Riley Keough is opening up about what’s publicly unknown about her well-known household’s previous.
The “From Right here to the Nice Unknown” creator opened as much as “Name Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper throughout a brand new Wednesday episode about her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s marriage to the music legend Michael Jackson.
“I believe when she noticed Michael’s life, there have been issues that he had that she did not have,” Keough advised host Cooper about Jackson’s opulent life with planes and assistants, including “that modified” throughout her mother’s quick marriage to Jackson.
However they had been used to sure components of fame, in keeping with Keough who defined that “our life wasn’t crazier as a result of that was already there, that already existed, just like the press and the loopy, the paparazzi.”
Keough additionally addressed her mother’s marriage with Jackson, telling Cooper that “the one factor I do know is that they had been in love and that their love for each other was real as a result of I used to be there and I keep in mind. Every part else, I don’t know as a result of I wasn’t there.”
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The most important reveals in Lisa MariePresley’s memoir, from Elvis to Michael Jackson
Earlier than Presley, who died in 2023, and Jackson, who died in 2009, had been married, the “Man within the Mirror” singer confronted allegations of kid sexual abuse. However Keough and Presley by no means mentioned the claims levied towards her ex-stepfather.
“I used to be by no means advised something. It’s truly not one thing I ever requested as an grownup,” Keough advised Cooper. “I believe it simply was what it was. I don’t know, it simply by no means got here to thoughts, I assume.”
The daughter of the long-lasting Elvis Presley married Jackson in 1994 and the 2 break up in 1996.
She continued, discussing her father’s doable response to the Jackson allegations: “I’d think about he mentioned all form of issues to my mother that we did not learn about … however the best way my dad and mom parented was very very similar to ‘we do not battle across the children.'” Keough added, “we did not learn about any allegations, we did not know, we had no consciousness of that.”
Keough is the daughter of Presley and musician Danny Keough, who additionally shared Ben Keough who died by suicide in July 2020.
Lisa Marie Presley revealed household secrets and techniques in guide coauthored with Riley Keough
Presley revealed her household secrets and techniques in a posthumous guide launched final yr, co-written by Keough.
Within the guide, she says she introduced Ben residence after his suicide in 2020. “I bought so used to him, caring for him and preserving him there” in a 55-degree room, she says.
Lisa Marie and Riley determined to get Ben’s identify tattooed on their collarbones and fingers, simply as he had theirs tattooed on him. When the artist requested if that they had images displaying the place of the ink, what occurred subsequent floored Riley.
The most important reveals in Lisa MariePresley’s memoir, from Elvis to Michael Jackson
Presley additionally penned about assembly Jackson and their bond, writing that “right here was an vitality there, one thing about him that was really exceptional, one thing that I’ve by no means ever seen or felt in my complete life, apart from with my dad. … I fell in love with him as a result of he was regular.”
She additionally flippantly addressed these youngster molestation allegations: “I by no means noticed a goddamn factor like that. I personally would’ve killed him if I had.”
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Employees AuthorJan 17, 2025, 02:13 PM ET
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MMA columnist for ESPN.com
Analyst for “MMA Stay”
Coated MMA for Las Vegas Solar
LOS ANGELES — The UFC’s first pay-per-view occasion of 2025 underwent a serious change Friday, as light-weight title challenger Arman Tsarukyan was compelled out of Saturday’s UFC 311 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood with a again harm.
UFC light-weight champion Islam Makhachev (26-1) will now defend his title towards Renato Moicano (22-3), who was scheduled to struggle Beneil Dariush on the cardboard. UFC CEO Dana White introduced the change Friday morning through the official weigh-ins.
“[Tsarukyan] knowledgeable us that he was experiencing important again ache,” White mentioned. “As a result of harm, he seems like he’s not wholesome sufficient to compete. Stepping in to face him is Renato Moicano.”
Tsarukyan, 28, was on tempo to make weight however suffered the again harm.
“I remorse to tell everybody that the information is that I needed to pull out of UFC 311 with a again harm is true,” Tsarukyan mentioned. “This was the toughest determination I’ve ever needed to make in my combating profession. I want to thank the UFC for understanding and I stay up for competing for my first UFC championship sooner or later.”
Makhachev, who’s in search of the fourth protection of his 155-pound championship, informed ESPN in a press release he did not thoughts the last-minute change.
“Champions don’t select opponents,” Makhachev mentioned. “So long as there’s somebody who could make 155, I will struggle anybody.”
Moicano (20-5-1) is on a four-fight profitable streak and ranked No. 10 within the division. He’s coming off a second-round stoppage of Benoit Saint-Denis in September.
Dariush mentioned on his Instagram account that he’s off Saturday’s card.
Washington — Sen. Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s choose to guide the State Division as secretary of state, referred to as China “essentially the most potent and harmful near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted” throughout his affirmation listening to Wednesday that largely centered on U.S. relations with the nation.
“The twenty first Century can be outlined by what occurs between the US and China,” Rubio informed his Senate colleagues, reiterating his long-held perception that the U.S. should push again on China’s affect extra forcefully.
“They’ve components that the Soviet Union by no means possessed,” Rubio mentioned. “They’re a technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, an financial competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor now — in each realm. It’s a rare problem.”
Rubio is more likely to sail by means of the affirmation course of to turn into the nation’s prime diplomat. He acquired a heat reception from members of the Senate International Relations Committee, of which he’s a member, who praised his intensive overseas coverage expertise.
The affirmation listening to occurred as Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire and hostage launch deal, U.S. officers mentioned. Senate International Relations chair Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, introduced on the listening to that he had been suggested {that a} deal had been reached, with Rubio commenting that each one these concerned “deserve credit score for the deal.”
Rubio more likely to have straightforward affirmation course of for secretary of state
04:57
At occasions all through the listening to, Rubio defended the choices of his former rival, Trump, as he confronted questions concerning the incoming president’s potential conflicts of curiosity overseas and provided a robust protection of NATO regardless of Trump’s previous criticism of the protection alliance.
“Below President Trump, the highest precedence of the US Division of State can be the US,” Rubio mentioned.
Like throughout and after the primary World Battle, Rubio declared that the U.S. is as soon as once more “referred to as to create a free world out of the chaos.”
“And this is not going to be straightforward,” Rubio continued. “And it is going to be inconceivable with no robust and a assured America that engages on the earth, placing our core nationwide pursuits, as soon as once more, above all else.”
Rubio, who has taken hardline positions on China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, will inherit the place going through numerous international challenges, together with Russia’s warfare in Ukraine, persistent violence within the Center East, China’s aggression towards Taiwan and its tense relationship with the U.S. Trump has additionally urged utilizing army power or coercion to realize management of Greenland and the Panama Canal. He is floated annexing Canada because the 51st state and has threatened commerce wars with U.S. allies.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) arrives to testify throughout his Senate International Relations affirmation listening to at Dirksen Senate Workplace Constructing on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch / Getty Photographs
Rubio on China
Within the Senate, Rubio has been among the many most outspoken on China, saying the nation is the “risk that may outline this century.” Members of each events have since adopted his positions on China.
In addition to warning concerning the nationwide safety dangers, Rubio has additionally sought to carry China accountable for human rights abuses. In 2020, Beijing responded to Rubio’s criticisms by banning him from the nation. It is unclear what is going to turn into of that ban as soon as he takes workplace and is tasked with finishing up Trump’s overseas coverage objectives.
Rubio informed senators that a lot of China’s progress has come on the expense of the U.S. and “in lower than 10 years, just about every little thing that issues to us in life will rely on whether or not China will enable us to have it or not.”
“Certainly, I have been strongly worded in my views of China. Let me simply level out they’ve mentioned imply issues about me, too,” Rubio mentioned Wednesday. “My position now as a secretary of state is to guide the diplomatic wing of the nation and that may contain participating them.”
Rubio mentioned it was within the curiosity of each international locations to have the ability to talk to keep away from an armed battle.
“By no means within the historical past of mankind have two powers like the US and China ever confronted off in a world battle, and the end result can be catastrophic, and we must always need to keep away from it, and so ought to they,” he mentioned.
Rubio on Ukraine and NATO
The Florida Republican referred to as for an finish to the warfare in Ukraine, which has carried on for practically three years since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.
“This warfare has to finish,” he mentioned, including that there must be a “ceasefire.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the highest Democrat on the committee, requested Rubio about his seeming shift in what was as soon as full-throated assist for Ukraine in its protection towards Russia. Rubio voted towards a overseas assist package deal final April that included help for Ukraine, regardless of his earlier assist for the nation. Through the 2024 marketing campaign, Trump criticized the Biden administration for sending billions to Ukraine in assist.
“I voted towards that invoice as a result of I mentioned I might not vote for a invoice except it addressed the disaster at our southern border as a part of the general association,” Rubio mentioned. “That was not performed, and so I voted towards it. That mentioned, this is my view of the scenario: As soon as this warfare turned what we now know it’s, and that’s, a warfare of attrition, a stalemate, a protracted battle, the dynamic on that scenario has modified. It has.”
Rubio says Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, whose father fled Cuba, requested Rubio whether or not he believes Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism.
“And not using a query,” Rubio responded.
A day earlier than Rubio’s affirmation listening to, the Biden administration introduced it’s transferring to take away Cuba from the U.S. checklist of state sponsors of terrorism and ease financial restrictions as a part of a deal for the discharge of political prisoners.
Rubio, a supporter of robust sanctions on Havana’s Communist regime, mentioned it has been pleasant in the direction of Hamas and Hezbollah, hosts espionage stations for 2 international locations hostile to the U.S., has robust ties to Iran and harbors fugitives from the American justice system.
“So there’s zero doubt in my thoughts that they meet all of the {qualifications} for being a state sponsor of terrorism,” he mentioned.
Requested whether or not he would reverse the Biden administration’s dedication, Rubio mentioned that was finally Trump’s name however mentioned “nothing that was agreed to is irreversible or binding on the brand new administration.”
Panama Canal and Greenland
The Panama Canal and Greenland, which have each acquired latest consideration from Trump, have been additionally matters of curiosity throughout the listening to.
“President Trump is just not inventing this,” Rubio mentioned of questions on whether or not the canal stays impartial. “That is one thing that is existed now for at the least a decade.”
Throughout a visit to Panama in 2017, Rubio mentioned Chinese language corporations’ management of port services on both finish of the canal was “the central subject” mentioned.
“This can be a professional subject that must be confronted,” he mentioned.
On Greenland, Rubio mentioned the Denmark-owned territory has been “strategically necessary” to the U.S. for many years.
Trump’s potential overseas conflicts of curiosity
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut grilled Rubio on the potential overseas conflicts of curiosity that will come up between the US’ nationwide pursuits and the Trump Group’s overseas enterprise dealings.
Murphy mentioned Trump and his household have turn into “extra deeply depending on income from governments within the Center East,” pointing to particular enterprise offers.
“The Trump Group goes to be signing new enterprise offers within the Center East with non-public corporations which have connections to overseas governments on the very second that you will be conducting delicate diplomacy in these international locations. That is simply extraordinary,” Murphy mentioned. “By no means earlier than within the historical past of this nation has a president been, I imply actually, receiving money from overseas governments and from overseas corporations which might be backed by overseas governments in the midst of their time period. When you or I had performed this as senators, we’d be in violent violation of Senate ethics guidelines. That is not permitted on the International Relations Committee.”
Murphy requested Rubio if he views taking advantage of Center East offers as a possible battle of curiosity, and whether or not he’ll convey that up with Trump. Rubio mentioned he is not a participant of or very conversant in Trump’s abroad enterprise offers, saying Trump’s members of the family who’re non-public residents are operating these corporations.
“All I can inform you is that what I’ve mentioned from the very starting from the opening assertion, and that’s our overseas coverage goes to be pushed, because the president’s made abundantly clear, by whether or not some motion is within the good of the US and our nationwide safety,” Rubio mentioned.
Pressed additional, Rubio particularly mentioned Trump’s members of the family have a proper to conduct enterprise offers overseas, and he does not consider Trump will enable private enterprise offers to adversely have an effect on U.S. pursuits.
“The president does not handle that firm,” Rubio responded. “His members of the family do, and so they have a proper to be within the enterprise. I imply, that is the enterprise that they are in. They’re in the true property enterprise, they have been for a really very long time, each domestically and overseas. They’ve properties in a number of international locations. So, on the finish of the day, his household is entitled to proceed to function their enterprise.”
“The basic query is just not whether or not his household is concerned in enterprise. The basic query is whether or not that’s in any means impacting the conduct of our overseas coverage in a means that is counter to our nationwide curiosity. And the president’s made it abundantly clear that each determination he makes and each determination we’re to make on the State Division must be pushed by whether or not or not it serves the core nationwide pursuits of the US,” he mentioned.
Who’s Marco Rubio?
Rubio, 53, was born in Miami to Cuban immigrants who arrived within the U.S. in Could 1956. His father was a banquet bartender and his mom labored as a resort maid. In accordance with his Senate web site, Rubio “was drawn to public service largely due to his grandfather, who noticed his homeland destroyed by communism.”
Rubio’s lengthy political profession started when he served as metropolis commissioner in West Miami after he earned levels from the College of Florida and the College of Miami Legislation Faculty. He was elected to the Florida Home of Representatives in 2000, the place he served till 2008, together with two years as speaker.
The Florida Republican was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and gained his third six-year time period in 2022. He has served on each the Senate International Relations Committee and as vice chair on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Rubio was amongst a crowded area of GOP candidates operating for president in 2016. He ended his marketing campaign after shedding the first to Trump in his dwelling state of Florida. The 2 verbally sparred throughout the marketing campaign, with Rubio calling Trump “a con artist” who was hijacking the Republican Occasion and “essentially the most vulgar particular person” to ever run for president. Trump sought to decrease his rival by nicknaming him “Little Marco.”
Nonetheless, Rubio endorsed Trump for president after dropping out of the race and the 2 fashioned a practical relationship within the years since. Trump eyed Rubio as a attainable operating mate within the 2024 race, however settled on Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as an alternative.
Does Marco Rubio have the votes to be confirmed?
Rubio is all however sure to be confirmed, even with some Democratic assist. Quite a lot of Senate Democrats have praised Trump’s selection and have pledged to assist his nomination on the ground, giving him many greater than the 50 votes he wants for affirmation, barring one thing unexpected.
At Wednesday’s listening to, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia was among the many Democrats to go with Rubio, saying he was “extraordinarily well-prepared.”
“He isn’t speaking out of a briefing guide. He isn’t having to thumb by means of a binder to resolve learn how to reply a specific query,” Kaine mentioned.
Others spoke about their private relationships with Rubio. Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois recalled how Rubio helped push for Senate guidelines to be amended in order that she might convey her new child daughter together with her on the ground to votes.
“What is the huge deal? This place is already filled with infants,” Rubio remembered saying.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who met with Rubio on Monday, referred to as the Florida Republican “a good selection” and mentioned he “has an intensive understanding of the US’ position on a global scale.”
“I plan to vote sure on his nomination when it comes earlier than the Senate,” Durbin, a prime Senate Democrat, mentioned in an announcement.
Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, primarily based in Washington, D.C. She beforehand labored for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the Nationwide Press Basis.
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