Trump reads Marco Rubio’s note at oil executives’ meeting, here’s what it said

Trump reads Rubio’s note aloud

US President Donald Trump turned a routine White House press briefing into an unscripted comedic moment on Friday when he read aloud a private handwritten note from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Seated between Vice President JD Vance and Rubio during a meeting with oil and gas executives, Trump announced he had received a message and proceeded to share it with the room, eliciting visible discomfort from Rubio and amusement from Vance.

As Trump read the note, Vance laughed while Rubio smiled awkwardly. "Go ahead, I'm going back to Chevron," Trump said, placing the note back on the table, then patted Rubio on the back: "Thank you, Marco."

Trump put Rubio in an awkward spot by reading his note out loudU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio handed Donald Trump a confidential note during a meeting with representatives of the oil industry. But Trump suddenly decided to read it out loud.“Go back to Chevron. They… pic.twitter.com/8LhIcJdt2c

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 10, 2026

"Was there a question, Mr. President?" an off-camera voice asked. Trump picked up the note again: "Yes, go ahead. Marco, what was the, what are you saying here?"

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright then took over, asking Mark Nelson of Chevron to share company updates. Rubio eventually folded the note and tucked it away, People reported.

Rubio previously made headlines in October 2025 for another note to Trump during a meeting with conservative influencers and the press. Photographers captured the message, which instructed Trump to approve a social media post about a tentative Israel-Hamas peace agreement.

A photo from The Associated Press showed the note read: "You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce deal first." Trump told attendees he had good news: "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. So we’ll take a couple of more questions."

AP reported Trump continued the meeting for ten more minutes before saying he had 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," he added.