Overview
- Rubio told Fox host Lara Trump over the weekend that he at first “hated” the widely shared photo but now finds the memes funny.
- He said the posture was a simple result of the couch and lack of a pillow, which made him appear to sink into the seat.
- Rubio said he does not follow the meme stream closely but that aides and others have shown him edits of the image.
- He confirmed that a Getty Images photo taken in the Oval Office during a tense meeting involving President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the source image used in the doctored memes.
- News outlets reported Rubio’s comments while noting the image is routinely repurposed to signal possible new roles for him and that coverage framed the story with different editorial tones.