In a podcast program, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked about his neighbor – Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his arrogant cat, which made a funny story when the cat visited Rubio’s house.
On Tuesday, August 11, Secretary Rubio revealed in a podcast with conservative media personality Katie Miller that Hegseth is a “Cat Guy”.
During the interview with Miller, Rubio and his wife Jeanette talked about their pets at home. Rubio mentioned that one of their two dogs is “very smart” and even knows how to open doors. He also mentioned that Hegseth is their neighbor, and occasionally their pets would cross boundaries and visit each other’s homes.
Rubio joked that Hegseth’s cat is especially confident, even appearing somewhat “arrogant”.
Rubio mentioned that he and his wife have two dogs, with one exceptionally smart Goldendoodle that learned how to open doors.
This skill led to an unexpected “visit” from the dog.
Rubio recalled that Hegseth’s family was at home watching TV with the front door open. Given Hegseth’s ownership of a cat, Rubio speculated that their dog sneaked in.
The dog walked into the living room, looked around, seemingly realizing it entered the wrong house. “It looked around, realized ‘I’m in the wrong house’, and then turned around and walked out,” Rubio reminisced.
This story made Miller and Jeanette laugh heartily, leading to a discussion about pets wandering between neighbors’ homes.
Rubio then shifted the focus to the cat owned by Hegseth’s family, which often showed up on his doorstep when he returned home at night.
As Rubio approached, the cat not only didn’t run away but seemed calm, completely unfazed.
Rubio said the cat looked at him as if he was the one who shouldn’t be there.
“That’s a very arrogant cat,” Rubio described. The cat sitting on his doorstep staring at him, as if saying, “What are you doing in my house?”
Rubio added that the cat’s real home was actually just nearby. He joked that most cats would run away when approached, but Hegseth’s cat just sat there, wagging its tail and looking back at him.
“What’s wrong?” Rubio recalled his thoughts when looking at the cat at that moment.
Rubio said he initially didn’t realize Hegseth was a “Cat Guy”.
Jeanette explained that Hegseth’s family had cats because the kids wanted pets. Rubio also mentioned Hegseth’s large family, jokingly discussing the number of children and cats in his house.
Rubio said he didn’t even know the name of the cat that apparently considered his doorstep its territory.
According to The Washington Post, Rubio and Hegseth both reside in Fort Lesley J. McNair, an Army base in Washington D.C.