US Vice President JD Vance launched a furious attack on Politico on Friday, accusing the outlet of running a “foreign influence operation” after it published a report questioning Trump peace envoy Steve Witkoff’s handling of negotiations with Russia.

The Politico article, written by Felicia Schwartz, carried the headline: “‘His inexperience shines through’: Steve Witkoff struggles to manage Russia as Trump peace envoy.” It cited anonymous officials criticizing Witkoff’s management of talks.

But Vance, in a lengthy post on X, said the piece was a smear against one of “our most effective members” of the administration.

“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,” Vance wrote.

He blasted the use of anonymous sources, calling them “two or three deep staters who are angry that Witkoff has succeeded where they’ve failed.”

“You know what this ‘reporter’ left out to make room for anonymous quotes?” Vance continued. “The full quote from the sitting vice president, on the record. A quote from the secretary of 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.”

The vice president then named the reporter directly. “The person who wrote this garbage is @felschwartz,” he posted.

Vance suggested two explanations for the article: “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.”

He defended Witkoff as instrumental in narrowing the Russia-Ukraine talks. “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.)”

According to Vance, Witkoff’s work has boiled the negotiations down to two critical issues: “security guarantees and territorial concessions.”

“Maybe we make peace, and maybe we don’t,” Vance said. “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.”

– Ends

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