JD Vance slams 'disgraceful' Politico report on Trump's peace envoy as a 'foreign influence operation'

WASHINGTON, DC: Vice President JD Vance lashed out at a report by Politico that questioned President Donald Trump's peace envoy Steve Witkoff’s handling of talks with Russia. Vance called the article "a foreign influence operation" and "disgraceful."

The report by Politico's Felicia Schwartz is titled "'His inexperience shines through': Steve Witkoff struggles to manage Russia as Trump peace envoy."

JD Vance says Politico's report on Steve Witkoff is 'journalistic malpractice'

Notably, Politico's report cites conversations with 13 US and foreign officials, and others familiar with the diplomatic effort.

A person told the outlet, "His inexperience shines through; he has the president’s ear, which is evident, but there has been some confusion about what has been said and agreed."

Meanwhile, a US official said, "He’s kind of a rogue actor. He talks to all these people, but no one knows what he says in any of these meetings. He will say things publicly, but then he changes his mind. It’s hard to operationalize that."

After the article was published on Friday, August 29, Vance initially issued a formal response defending Witkoff and stated, "Witkoff has made more progress towards ending the bloodshed in Ukraine than all his critics combined."

In a subsequent post, he slammed the article, tagging Schwartz and questioning her intelligence.

Vance wrote, "This story from Politico is journalistic malpractice. But it’s more than that: it’s a foreign influence operation meant to hurt the administration and one of our most effective members."

He further criticized Schwartz for relying on unnamed sources and said, "Notice how all of the people attacking Steve are on background? That means it’s two or three deep staters who are angry that Witkoff has succeeded where they’ve failed."

Interestingly, the report makes clear that the sources were "granted anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations and internal deliberations."

JD Vance accuses Politico of omitting supportive statements from top officials

The vice president went on to accuse Politico of omitting supportive statements from top officials.

He wrote, "You know what this ‘reporter’ left out to make room for anonymous quotes? The full quote from the sitting vice president, on the record. A quote from the secretary of the state, on the record."

"A quote from Jared Kushner, on the record. The full quote from the UK’s Jonathan Powell, one of the most respected national security people in the Western World, who defended Steve vigorously from these malicious smears," Vance added.

Vance and Powell's comments were included in the piece, but were shortened for brevity.

Furthermore, the vice president targeted Schwartz directly and wrote, "There are two possible explanations: Felicia is just not very smart, and allowed herself to be used by deep state con men. Or she’s in on it and used her position to willingly participate in a literal foreign influence operation. Either way, it’s disgraceful."

"To set the record straight. Steve Witkoff is an invaluable member of our team. He did not mislead anyone on what the Russians told him and what the Russians conceded. (Trust me, I’ve seen the intel.) The fruits of his negotiations are that we have narrowed the list of open issues in the Russia-Ukraine war to a set of clearly defined issues—specifically, security guarantees and territorial concessions," Vance stressed.

The vice president didn't stop there as he further added, "Maybe we make peace, and maybe we don’t. If we do, it will be because Steve Witkoff and the President of the United States worked their tails off, in the face of outright lies from the mainstream press."