Marco Rubio says Ukraine mineral deal just a ‘tush push’ away

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says an agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine to develop the latter’s rare earth minerals is nearing completion after an earlier false start.

On “Fox & Friends,” Rubio noted that the deal, which is being negotiated by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is “very close to the finish line.” And Rubio, an avid football fan, paid homage to Super Bowl-winning quarterback Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles and his reliable play in short-yardage situations to make his point.

“We were on not even the 1-yard line, we were like at the half-yard line,” Rubio told interviewer Brian Kilmeade. “Almost like when the Eagles pushed the quarterback across, you know that ‘tush push‘ thing. So it’s close and it’s good.”

Rubio has framed the deal with Ukraine as a way to ensure the country’s security after the cessation of hostilities with Russia, while simultaneously clawing back some of the substantial U.S. investment in the war effort.

“Some of that money will go back to pay back the U.S. taxpayer for the billions of dollars that’s been spent there,” Rubio said on the “Clay and Buck” show.

Through the end of the last fiscal year, Ukraine response funding neared $183 billion. The Donald Trump administration has proposed a deal worth $500 billion, which is under review by the Ukrainian government.

The happy talk contrasts with previous comments from Rubio on the subject. He said last week he was “very upset” after Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted the terms of postwar cooperation with the U.S., then seemingly called an audible on a key condition.

Rubio claimed Zelenskyy said the proposal “makes all the sense in the world” and said the Legislature would have to approve it — but the Ukrainian leader reversed his rhetoric in short order.

“I read two days later that Zelenskyy is out there saying, ‘I rejected the deal; I told them no way, that we’re not doing that.’ Well, that’s not what happened in that meeting. So, you start to get upset by somebody — we’re trying to help these guys,” Rubio told interviewer Catherine Herridge.

While it might have been the case that Zelenskyy wasn’t running the play Rubio called, the Secretary’s latest comments suggest that they may finally be aligned.

But time will tell.

As the Ukrainian leader told the British Broadcasting Corporation, the negotiation “framework … can be a big success,” but that will “depend on our conversation with President Trump.”

That bilateral discussion is scheduled for Friday.

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