The exchange quickly went downhill when Sen. Marco Rubio warned Alex Jones, who was standing beside him in the hallway, to “not touch me again.” | Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO 'Frat boy': Alex Jones taunts Rubio in tense Senate standoff 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and InfoWars host Alex Jones clashed outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing today, with the lawmaker saying he’d “take care of” Jones as the far-right provocateur mockingly called him a “little gangster thug" and "frat boy." 
 
 Rubio, addressing reporters outside the hearing room, was badgered with questions by Jones, who made a surprise appearance at the Senate hearing devoted to foreign interference on social media. 
 
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 The exchange quickly went downhill when the senator warned the conspiracy-peddling host, who was standing beside him in the hallway, to “not touch me again.” 
 
 “I’m just patting you nicely,” Jones responded, before accusing Rubio of trying to get him arrested. 
 
 Rubio rebuffed the charge, adding: “I’ll take care of you myself.” 
 
 "Rubio just threatened to physically take care of me," Jones replied, an insinuation that Rubio disputed. 
 
 As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey began their testimony before the committee, Jones livestreamed his entrance into the building and later took a seat in the first row of the hearing room, sitting mere feet away from the tech executives. 
 
 Internet companies including Facebook and Twitter removed or suspended Jones’ content last month for violating their terms of service. The action came as many conservatives, including President Donald Trump, accuse Silicon Valley of being biased against their views. ||||| This morning, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg faced questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee about how their companies handle myriad issues, including misinformation, content moderations, and foreign intrusion. And since it happened at a congressional hearing, it was open for anyone to attend. 
 
 So it shouldn’t have been entirely surprising that Infowars host Alex Jones decided to stop by. The well-known conspiracy theorist was recently banned on platforms including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Though he claims these banned only made his online presence stronger, data shows that Infowars’s audience is shrinking. 
 
 This is perhaps why Jones attended the hearing–to, once again, enter the spotlight. He didn’t just want to hear what the technology giants had to say, but also intended to make his presence known. And he made quite the statement to Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. 
 
 According to Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer, Jones found Rubio in the hallways giving an interview during a hearing recess. He began talking over Rubio, accusing the United States of censorship akin to China’s. Rubio first attempted to answer his questions, then tried to ignore Jones’s heckling, but the troll kept going. 
 
 “Is that a heckler or the press?” Rubio asked. 
 
 Realizing Rubio was no longer going to answer his questions, Jones started calling Rubio a snake while laughing like a disturbed schoolboy. The online broadcaster then went to touch the senator on the shoulder, and Rubio recoiled. “Don’t touch me again, man,” he said with a death stare. 
 
 Ultimately, Rubio left to go back to the hearing while reporters asked Jones some questions. ||||| Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gutter-sniped viral “weirdo” Salt Bae, aka Nusret Gökçe, after the Instagram-famous chef posted a video of himself serving steak to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—continuing the senator’s recent bloodlust for shaming celebrity bottom-feeders in public forums. 
 
 I don’t know who this weirdo #Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of #Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition. https://t.co/sSNPK9cAAx — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 “I don’t know who this weirdo # Saltbae is, but the guy he is so proud to host is not the President of # Venezuela. He is actually the overweight dictator of a nation where 30% of the people eat only once a day & infants are suffering from malnutrition,” tweeted the Florida senator in his first attack against the chef on Monday evening. 
 
 Then the senator went for the jugular, publishing the contact information for Salt Bae’s restaurant in Miami in an attempt to damage his business. 
 
 This guy @nusr_ett who admires dictator @NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, #Miami. It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 
 
 The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call. https://t.co/7CDkgHVZWh — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 “This guy @ nusr_ett who admires dictator @ NicolasMaduro so much actually owns a steakhouse in, of all places, # Miami,” said Rubio online. “It’s called NUSR-ET STEAKHOUSE MIAMI located at 999 Brickell Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 The phone number is 1 305 415 9990 in case anyone wanted to call. 
 
 But Rubio did not stop there: Following cavalry support from Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, the senator tweeted another attack in Spanish at 10:55 p.m., ensuring his opponent received a barrage of angry tweets before retiring to bed weary from battle. 
 
 Shaken by the outrage mob, Salt Bae deleted the tweet in which he served steak to a South American dictator. Rather than accept this submission, however, a bloodthirsty Rubio continued his attack into Thursday morning—the battle amplified by entrenched media institutions like The Washington Post. 
 
 #Salt Bae @nusr_ett⁩ deleted the tweet with the video of him lavishing dictator Maduro with a steak dinner while the people of #Venezuela starve. Fortunately @miamiherald downloaded it before he deleted it. Watch here:https://t.co/AC9qkFWyOw — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 18, 2018 
 
 “ # Salt Bae @ nusr_ett⁩ deleted the tweet with the video of him lavishing dictator Maduro with a steak dinner while the people of # Venezuela starve,” said Rubio before directing his followers to a link where they could watch the controversial video. 
 
 As a Republican who has encouraged a military coup in Venezuela, Rubio loathes Maduro and has helmed a campaign to raise awareness for the leader’s crimes against his people. The senator’s attack against Salt Bae follows his sparring last week with Alex Jones—when he called the InfoWars conspiracy theorist “a clown” and threatened to “take care of” him without help from his security entourage. ||||| poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201701/491/1155968404_5278251702001_5278251376001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true Tillerson has a shaky show before skeptical senators Trump's secretary of state pick has a testy exchange with Republican Marco Rubio during his confirmation hearing. 
 
 Rex Tillerson had terse exchanges Wednesday with Republican Marco Rubio and other key senators during his confirmation hearing for the role of secretary of state, ducking questions on whether Russian leader Vladimir Putin is a "war criminal" or if the U.S. should sanction Moscow. 
 
 The former ExxonMobil CEO was at times astonishingly candid, even curt, at one point telling a senator “a little of both” when asked if he was refusing to answer a question or if he didn’t know the answer. Tillerson also struggled to clarify key issues, stating, for instance, that his company never lobbied against Russian sanctions, even though public records show the oil company repeatedly talked to lawmakers and the White House about the sanctions. 
 
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 He hedged on questions about whether the governments in countries such as the Philippines and Saudi Arabia were human rights violators. And Tillerson would not say that he'd immediately back out of the nuclear agreement with Iran — a stance that puts him in opposition to some Republicans. 
 
 Tillerson’s shaky showing, and in particular his ugly clash with Rubio, did not bode well for his chance to get approval from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has an 11-10 Republican-Democratic split, meaning even one GOP defection could spell trouble. Republican leaders could simply bring the nomination directly to the Senate floor, sidestepping the committee, but that would be a poor sign for his prospects. 
 
 Tillerson’s views on Russia, whose president he has known personally for many years, was a major focus of lawmakers from both parties. His appearance came as Republicans were reeling from unsubstantiated reports that Russia had gathered salacious, damaging material about President-elect Donald Trump. 
 
 Rubio, a hawkish Floridian who lost to Trump in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, pressed Tillerson on Russia's actions in bloody conflicts in Syria, Chechnya and beyond, as well as suspected Russian hacking and other interference in the U.S. election. 
 
 "Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?" Rubio asked. 
 
 "I would not use that term," Tillerson replied. 
 
 Referring to the Russian-backed Syrian government's killing of civilians, Rubio at one point dismissed Tillerson's insistence that he didn't have the proper security clearance yet to have all the necessary information needed to draw conclusions about Russia's actions. And the two clashed over claims that Putin had ordered the killing of journalists and other opposition figures, with Tillerson snapping back at the senator. 
 
 The two also tangled on whether Saudi Arabia was a human rights violator due to its severe restrictions on women. Tillerson, who has frequently visited the oil rich Muslim kingdom, said the U.S. could do more harm than good by lobbing accusations against the Saudis, whose society he said was gradually seeing progress. 
 
 "Our interests are not different, senator, I share all the same values that you share," Tillerson told Rubio. "But I’m also clear-eyed and realistic about it." 
 
 On one area, however, Tillerson fell in line with Rubio: He said he'd urge Trump to veto any legislation that would lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba. 
 
 Rubio would not say whether the tough exchanges have made him more or less comfortable with Tillerson's nomination. 
 
 "We're going to discuss all that after the hearing. Let's let the hearing process conclude," Rubio said. "I'm not going to litigate a hearing in the press at this time." 
 
 But other Republicans told reporters they weren't nearly as worried about Tillerson's relative warmth to Putin. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he believes it's an "asset" that Tillerson has a relationship with Putin. And Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, who got Tillerson to later clarify that he could potentially dub Putin a "war criminal" if he had access to classified information, said Tillerson was appropriately circumspect. 
 
 "If he had independent knowledge in classified sessions that the things that Rubio laid out were true, he would in fact consider that a war crime. So I think like any nominee you want to qualify your answers," Corker said. 
 
 In response to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) Tillerson promised to “review” the Iran nuclear deal, but he didn’t say he’d want to immediately withdrawing from it. That will likely please the Obama administration, which considers the deal a key piece of its foreign policy legacy, though but Tillerson appeared skeptical overall of what the Islamic Republic’s long term goals are. 
 
 “The current agreement does freeze their ability to progress, but it does not ultimately deny their ability to have a nuclear weapon,” he said. 
 
 Speaking with a slow drawl, the 64-year-old Texan also declined to say whether he supported sanctions leveled against Russia by President Barack Obama's administration over its suspected meddling in the 2016 election. Trump himself has refused to accept the intelligence community's assessments that the Kremlin tried to turn the election in his favor. 
 
 The secretary of state nominee said he needed to examine the details of the existing sanctions as well as newly proposed ones by lawmakers. He said that it was important to look at all facets involved, including how the U.S. partners with the country being targeted in areas such as trade. 
 
 "It is important that those be dealt with on a country-by-country relationship," Tillerson said. 
 
 Later, when pressed, Tillerson insisted he would support sanctions if the Trump administration decided they were the most effective course of action to penalize a country such as Russia. As far as Russian cyber-attacks go, “We are being attacked,” Tillerson said. “I don’t dispute that statement.” 
 
 Tillerson also claimed that ExxonMobil had not lobbied against sanctions, although public records seem to show otherwise. 
 
 "I have never lobbied against sanctions, personally," said, who only recently left the company in order to serve as secretary of state. "To my knowledge Exxon never directly lobbied against sanctions." 
 
 As POLITICO reported last year, Exxon officials lobbied against a bill, known as the STAND for Ukraine Act, which would have enshrined Obama’s sanctions against Russia into law — making it more difficult for Trump to overturn them. 
 
 Tillerson countered later in the hearing that Exxon didn't specifically lobby against the sanctions, arguing that the company "participated in understanding how the sanctions are going to be constructed." He said he later talked to the Obama administration about the effects of the sanctions. "The characterization that ExxonMobil lobbied against the sanctions is just not accurate," he said. 
 
 Tillerson is required by an ethics agreement to recuse himself from all matters involving ExxonMobil for a year and he reiterated several times that he will adhere to that requirement. But senators' efforts to pin him down on a much longer commitment to do so were fruitless. 
 
 Tillerson also shrugged off questions from Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) about his tax returns, asking that his and his family’s privacy be respected. The foreign relations committee does not require a nominee's tax returns, though Democrats are seeking Tillerson's anyway. 
 
 "I’m mindful of privacy issues. I hope you’ll also respect the privacy of my and my family," Tillerson said. 
 
 Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) asked Tillerson if he had any knowledge of Trump’s personal or financial ties to Russia. Tillerson said he did not. 
 
 The senator managed to irk Tillerson by pressing him on allegations that ExxonMobil had misled the public and its investors about internal research on climate change. When Tillerson at one point dodged a question, Kaine asked: "Do you lack the knowledge to answer my question or are you refusing to answer my question?” 
 
 “A little of both,” Tillerson said. 
 
 In his prepared remarks, Tillerson said Russia needs to be held accountable when it is at odds with the United States but that an "open and frank dialogue" is necessary between the two countries, who could find common ground on issues such as fighting Islamist terrorism. 
 
 Russia, Tillerson added, poses a "danger" to the United States but "is not unpredictable in advancing its own interests." 
 
 America’s NATO allies have been worried about Trump’s seemingly shaky commitment to the military alliance. The Baltic countries are especially alarmed about potential Russian invasion or aggression against them. 
 
 Trump has said in the past that, regardless of NATO’s famous Article 5 provision, which states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all, that he may not come to a fellow NATO member’s aid if they have not been paying their fair share of the alliance’s defense budget. 
 
 But Tillerson took a more traditional view when asked about how the U.S. should react to an attack on states such as the Baltics. “The Article 5 commitment is inviolable and the United States is going to stand behind that commitment,” he said. 
 
 Tillerson also broke with Trump on the issue of nuclear proliferation, flatly saying "I do not agree," when asked to respond to a past Trump statement that U.S. allies Japan and South Korea may be better off having their own nuclear weapons. 
 
 On several occasions, Tillerson repeatedly declined to take a stand, saying he didn't have enough information. That included his responses to several senators as to whether he believed Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, is committing human rights violations. 
 
 Under Duterte, thousands of people suspected in the drug trade have been killed extra-judicially. Tillerson, however, insisted he needed more facts about the situation, dismissing numerous news reports and chalking his approach up to his engineering background. 
 
 The aspiring secretary of state also expressed strong support for Israel, even though he also acknowledged that Palestinians have suffered due to the long-simmering conflict in that region. He said it might take another generation before the two sides achieve peace, but he pledged to stand up for Israel against other nations, including at forums like the United Nations. 
 
 Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana brought up Trump’s prolific, and erratic, use of Twitter, and asked Tillerson how he would react if the future president’s social media use undermined his diplomatic efforts. 
 
 “I don’t think I’m going to be telling the boss how he ought to communicate with the American people,” Tillerson said, before adding he would expect to be on the same page as Trump as far as policy goes. 
 
 And if there is a mix up? “I have his cell phone number,” Tillerson said.
– The biggest stars of Wednesday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing seem to be an empty chair and Alex Jones of InfoWars. The former was reserved for Google's leadership, which unlike Twitter and Facebook was a no-show. The latter got into it with Sen. Marco Rubio outside the hearing, which Fast Company notes is open to the public; Politico reports Jones sat in the first row just behind Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey. During a hearing recess, Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer tweeted that Jones went into the hallway outside the room and got into a "heated exchange" with Rubio. Video Sommer tweeted of the exchange shows Rubio speaking with reporters as Jones keeps interrupting with questions and statements before moving on to calling Rubio a "snake" and "frat boy." Rubio replies, "I swear to God, I don't know who you are, man." As Jones tries to clarify, Rubio tells him "not to touch me again." Replies Jones, "I'm just patting you nicely," before suggesting Rubio wants to get him arrested. Rubio says, "You're not going to get arrested man. I'll take care of you myself." Jones tells him, "You are literally like a little gangster thug." As Rubio excuses himself to go back to the committee, he refers to Jones as "this clown." Responds Jones, "Go back to your bathhouse."