U.S. not withdrawing from world, Rubio says during testy hearings in Congress

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday insisted that the country is not withdrawing from the world, as he batted away criticism of cuts to aid and diplomatic budgets from former colleagues in Congress, some of whom regret voting to confirm him because he has not stood up to President Donald Trump. In sometimes feisty first testimony as the country's top diplomat, Rubio was challenged over his role in the administration's crackdown on immigration, Trump's engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the decision to prioritize the resettlement in the United States of white South Africans over refugees from elsewhere. "While you've turned away from a genocide in Sudan and invented one in South Africa, you've teamed up with President Trump to throw the Ukrainian people under the bus, and have been played like a fiddle by Vladimir Putin," Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in a blistering critique of Rubio's about-face on issues he embraced as a senator, adding that he regretted his vote for Rubio's nomination.