JD Vance criticises Politico article on Trump's envoy Witkoff
US Vice President JD Vance has criticised Felicia Schwartz and her article for Politico portraying Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for the Middle East, as incompetent.
Source: Vance on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda
Details: Vance described Politico’s piece on Witkoff as an act of "journalistic malpractice" and "a foreign influence operation meant to hurt" Trump’s administration.
He expressed outrage that the article relied on anonymous sources while ignoring public statements in Witkoff’s support. (In fact, the piece did cite Vance himself and UK Prime Minister's National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, though their remarks were shortened.)
The vice president then moved on to personal attacks against journalist Felicia Schwartz, calling her "the person who wrote this garbage" and questioning why anonymous sources chose to speak to her about Witkoff at this particular moment.
Quote: "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."
Background:
- Politico’s article cited 13 European, American and Ukrainian officials, who, speaking anonymously, stated that Witkoff’s incompetence was undermining international diplomacy.
- Russian sources were also disappointed, particularly with his failure to convey Putin’s messages and red lines accurately to Trump.
- Witkoff believes a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia could be achieved by the end of this year, or even earlier.
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