Key facts
- Rubio told the meeting unethical behavior would result in firing regardless of connections, one person said.
- Rubio's office must now approve all political travel by staff, one person said.
- Policy chief Jeremy Lewin left soon after the meeting; three people cited coordination concerns, and he denied being fired.
- A State Department official said of Lewin: "It was mutually agreed it was time (for Lewin) to move on."
- Democrats take control of Congress in January and say they will investigate Trump aides' dealings with foreign officials.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has moved to tighten control over the State Department, telling senior officials at a meeting before the Republican Party's electoral losses on November 3, 2026, that staff must stay in their lanes and avoid efforts that present conflicts of interest, four people familiar with the matter said. The State Department declined to comment on the meeting.
Rubio told the meeting, which included many of the roughly two dozen assistant secretaries of state, that unethical behavior would result in a firing regardless of how well-connected an official might be, one of the people said. He added that too many officials were making decisions or pushing policy agendas without coordinating, and that significant decisions required his signoff or that of Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Soon after the meeting, three of the people said, policy chief Jeremy Lewin was forced out in part over concerns he was working on matters outside his area without proper coordination. None of the people suggested Lewin's departure was linked to ethical misconduct. Lewin said in a statement that his departure was planned for weeks, that he resigned to take a private sector role and plan his wedding, and that "the suggestion that I was fired is false." A State Department official said: "It was mutually agreed it was time (for Lewin) to move on."
Rubio's frustrations also included excessive overseas travel by political staff, leading to a requirement that his office approve all political travel, one person said. The meeting followed the mid-October resignation of US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after news reports raised concerns she sold access to Trump administration officials for money, gifts and favors; Guilfoyle called the reports false. Rubio later sent a department-wide memo reminding diplomats to avoid conflicts of interest and denied it followed her departure.
In October, US Special Representative for Global Partnerships Paolo Zampolli was fired after Politico reported an email thread in which Landau accused him of working outside his cultural diplomacy remit. After Tuesday's midterms gave Democrats control of Congress, Vice President JD Vance and Republican Senator Ted Cruz offered post-mortems on X that many strategists saw as political vision statements. Democrats have said they will examine dealings between Trump aides and foreign officials when they take control in January.