Marco Rubio dishes on UFO whistleblower. But not on Trump discussing 'secret' document.

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio spoke up about UFOs Tuesday but not about the dissemination of an audio recording in which indicted former President Donald Trump purportedly discussed a "highly-confidential" document during a post-presidency meeting with journalists and an aide.

Rubio's views on national security carry particular weight because he serves as vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Up until now, he has defended Trump's actions regarding the classified documents.

He initially downplayed the dispute over the files as a "storage issue" after the August 2022 FBI search and seizure of boxes of records and papers. In interviews after Trump was indicted for possessing, mishandling and concealing the government papers, Rubio faulted special counsel Jack Smith for not using "prosecutorial discretion."

Why Marco Rubio has defended Trump against criminal investigation, charges

Rubio has asserted that he does not believe Trump, nor President Joe Biden nor former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should have kept government records on their private property. But in Trump's case, Rubio has noted that there is "no allegation" that Trump's actions specifically harmed national security, or that the president sold any of the papers for profit to a foreign power or otherwise trafficked them to other people.

Rubio's position is that Smith should have weighed the apparent lack of injury to U.S. security against the further political polarization in the country in the wake of the felony charges.

One member of Florida's House delegation, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, serves in that chamber's intelligence panel. Waltz, a military veteran who served as U.S. Army Green Beret, has not posted on Twitter after the dissemination of the audio tape.

But, he, too, has said indicting Trump speaks to "two tiers of justice" in America.

"The Clintons, Hunter, & Biden. The media wants to call it 'whataboutism.' Our legal system calls it legal precedent and case law. Facts matter. And the American people see the two tiers of justice," Waltz posted on his account on June 16.

What does Trump say about a 'secret' document in the released audio tape?

In the audio, Trump complains about the perception that he wanted to "attack Iran." Then showing the people in the room the documents, which he alternately described as "a big pile," "all sorts of stuff," "pages long" as papers are heard ruffling, Trump said a particular file proves that it was Defense Department officials who had game planned the aggressive move against Tehran.

"Isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, except that it's highly confidential, secret," Trump says to laughter in the room, later adding: "This was done by the military, given to me."

Trump and the staffer then appear to consider sharing the document with the journalists.

"I think we can probably ... right" Trump said.

"I don't know, we'll have to see ... we'll have to figure out ...," the unnamed staffer is heard saying.

"Declassify. See as president I could have declassified it but now I can't," Trump said. "Isn't that interesting? It's so cool."

The recording concludes with Trump ordering soft drinks. "Hey, bring some Cokes in please," Trump is heard calling out.

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Rubio does weigh in on UFO 'whistleblower' in Tuesday interview

As of Tuesday afternoon, Rubio had not commented on the audio recording on his U.S. senatorial Twitter account. His official senatorial website did not have a statement posted. Attempts to obtain a statement were also unsuccessful.

But Rubio spoke out about UFO whistleblower David Grusch in an interview with NewsNation.

"I will say there are people that have come forward to share information with our committee over the last couple of years," Rubio told NewsNation, saying he surmised those individuals likely have also spoken with Grusch.

Rubio said he could not determine the credibility of those sources but said many of them have held high positions in government and possessed security clearances.

"What I think we owe is just a mature, you know, understanding, listening and trying to put these, all these pieces together and just sort of intake the information without any prejudgment or jumping to any conclusions in one direction or another," he said.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.