Secretary of State Marco Rubio is employing a former Ron DeSantis campaign aide who was fired in 2023 after promoting a political video containing imagery associated with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Nate Hochman now serves as deputy director of the State Department’s influential Policy Planning Staff and, according to an email signature reviewed by The New York Times, is also Rubio’s chief speechwriter.
The appointment gives Hochman a role in an office responsible for providing strategic policy advice to the secretary of state and helping articulate US diplomatic priorities. State Department descriptions of the office note that speechwriters traditionally operate within the Policy Planning Staff.
Hochman’s return to a prominent government position follows a controversy that ended his stint with DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign.
He was working as a speechwriter for the Florida governor in 2023 when he reposted a pro-DeSantis video that concluded with the Florida state seal transforming into a Sonnenrad, or Black Sun.
The symbol has been adopted by neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements.
Hochman denied producing the video and said he removed his repost after discovering what the symbol represented. He also said he alerted his supervisors, but the controversy ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the campaign.
The New York Times reported that Hochman later said he did not want to identify those who had produced and distributed the video because doing so risked implicating friends.
The episode was not Hochman’s only previous controversy involving the far right.
Hochman had participated in an online conversation with white nationalist Nick Fuentes in which he told Fuentes he had gotten “a lot of kids based,” while also warning that Fuentes’ provocative rhetoric limited what he could accomplish politically.
Hochman later said he had been attempting to draw Fuentes out during the conversation and regretted comments that appeared to signal agreement.
“I said some really stupid things, which I don’t actually believe,” Hochman later said, adding that he disagreed with Fuentes’ worldview.
After leaving the DeSantis campaign, Hochman joined America 2100, a conservative organization founded by Michael Needham, who previously served as Rubio’s Senate chief of staff.
Hochman later moved to Capitol Hill, serving as a policy adviser to Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt (R). He departed that position earlier this year before joining the State Department.
Federal records reviewed by the Times showed Hochman listed as a senior adviser in the State Department’s Office of the Counselor by June.
He subsequently became deputy director of Policy Planning and has served as Rubio’s speechwriter since at least July, according to documentation reviewed by the newspaper.
It remains unclear which specific Rubio speeches Hochman has drafted.
The State Department is publicly defending Hochman despite renewed scrutiny of his political history.
“Nate Hochman is a trusted and key member of the department who has worked tirelessly to advance the president’s foreign policy agenda,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
The Policy Planning Staff is particularly significant because it advises the secretary on broad strategic issues and helps formulate long-term approaches to foreign policy.
The office was created in 1947 under Secretary of State George Marshall and has historically functioned as an internal source of policy analysis and recommendations for the department’s leadership, per the Daily Mail.
Hochman began building his profile in conservative politics before joining the DeSantis operation, working with the Claremont Institute and writing for National Review.
His move into Rubio’s State Department represents a significant rebound from the 2023 campaign controversy that appeared at the time to have derailed his political career.
Now, three years after his dismissal, Hochman is helping shape the messaging of one of the highest-ranking members of the Trump administration while working inside an office that plays a role in developing US foreign policy.
