Rubio hit with blunt retort while decrying 'chaos': 'Welcome to the White House'

Secretary of State Marco Rubio struggled to wrangle a room full of reporters when he hosted the White House briefing on Tuesday while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was on maternity leave.

"I'll be filling in for Karoline today, obviously," Rubio announced to reporters before recapping President Donald Trump's efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz. "It's criminal for sure, but it's desperate and destructive, this blockade of the Straits of Hormuz."

Several minutes into the briefing, Rubio asked whether the front row consisted of television correspondents.

"Are you guys all the TV people?" he wondered.

"Yeah," one reporter confirmed.

"They gave me a little map," the secretary revealed. "I don't know where I put it — of the people here. Some of you had, like, red X's. I'm kidding."

After becoming frustrated while calling on reporters, Rubio declared the room chaotic.

"This is chaos, guys!" he insisted.

"Welcome to the White House!" a reporter shouted back.