TAMPA (970 WFLA) -- Speaking on AM Tampa Bay, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio says he believes Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has figured out that he'll suffer no consequences for a chemical attack on a town in northern Syria that killed dozens, including children.
"He's made that calculation. Russia supports him on it, China is indifferent, and I hate to say it, I think he's going to get away with it again... People will complain, there'll be a meeting of the U.N. Security Councilk, and life will go on, and (Assad) will stay in power."
Rubio sharply criticized former President Obama's drawing of a "red line" that had little consequence for Assad, and also criticizes Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for saying that Assad's fate is up to the Syrian people.
On North Korea, Rubio says there are few good options after the latest launch of a ballistic missile. He says a strike on that country's nuclear facilities would almost certainly lead to a missile strike on South Korea, followed by an escalation that would likely draw in China. North Korea fired a missile ahead of President Trump's meeting with China's president Xi Jinping.
Rubio sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian involvement in the presidential election and related surveillance that caught up members of the Trump transition team. He says some of the issues are difficult to deal with, including fake stories created by Twitter trolls and Russian media.
"I think the best thing we can do is (create) awareness. We have to shine a light on it and let people know that a lot of the conspiracy theories that people see on the Internet are not true. Some of them... may be driven by foreign agents of influence... (that are trying) to get Americans to fight against each other."