Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed off various reports about CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s furtive visit to Russia last week, stating in a Fox News Radio episode aired Wednesday that the spy agency’s leader was there solely to open a dialogue with Russian officials.
Rubio acknowledged Ratcliffe’s visit, which was also confirmed by President Donald Trump in a separate radio interview with conservative political commentator Glenn Beck. At that time, Trump called Ratcliffe’s visit “semi-routine.”
Ratcliffe’s first known trip to Russia as CIA director, which began on Aug. 25, sparked a variety of news reports about what was discussed. According to those reports, discussion topics included a possible trilateral meeting between Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; a plea for Russia to pursue a peace deal with Ukraine; and a warning against attacking NATO countries.
CBS News first reported Ratcliffe’s trip after a U.S. Air Force jet was seen arriving at a Moscow airport.
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Rubio said in the radio interview that he had seen reports about Ratcliffe’s visit but didn’t think any of it was accurate. “Nobody who has any knowledge of that meeting is — it’s a very small handful of people, and none of them have talked to the press.”
Rubio said the trip was “primarily a routine one” that was “not unprecedented.” He added that the United States has to be able to communicate with Russia “from a very practical perspective” and that exchanges between American and Russian intelligence communities have “always existed.”
Ratcliffe’s purpose was to continue to build “intel-to-intel communication channels,” Rubio said, “because things can prove useful in a time of crisis or conflict.”
“This is not unusual; it’s occurred under other administrations as well,” he said.
Ratcliffe has not publicly spoken about his trip. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Aug. 26 that Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials and did not speak with Putin, who was later briefed on the visit.
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