WASHINGTON _ Three years ago, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Lindsey Graham were fighting to stay in Donald Trump's orbit as he pulled away in the Republican presidential primary.
Now, the three senators with distinct foreign policy views _ Paul is libertarian while Rubio and Graham are noted hawks who prioritize different regions of the world _ are able to claim varying pieces of influence and credit for Trump's foreign policy approach during his first two years in office.
Rubio notably persuaded Trump to roll back some of Barack Obama's Cuba changes to fulfill a campaign promise and has been a constant voice urging action against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, an approach that paid off last week with multilateral recognition of an opposition leader as Venezuela's rightful leader. Graham met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Trump's encouragement this month as the administration and Ankara discuss how the U.S. negotiates a pullout in Syria. And Paul, one of only a few Republicans to support leaving Syria, was one of several senators who met Trump at the White House recently to discuss how the administration can wind down military activity in Syria and Afghanistan.
