Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused Politico of “journalistic malpractice” after the news site quoted anonymous sources and officials calling into question White House special envoy Steve Witkoff's competency as he leads US efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Mr Witkoff, who is also special envoy for the Middle East and is leading US efforts to end the war in Gaza, is a “rogue actor” who circumvents diplomatic norms, one source said.
He is also inexperienced and too willing to accept Russia's talking points and struggles to focus on more than one task at a time, others told Politico, among other claims.
The story included on-the-record praise from Mr Vance and flattering remarks from other people about Mr Witkoff, but the Vice President nonetheless took to X to attack the story and criticise the reporter, claiming she might be a willing participant in a “foreign influence operation”.
“I wonder if she ever asked herself why these anonymous sources came to her at this moment with this particular story,” Mr Vance wrote. “They have an agenda to blow up the President's efforts to make peace, and they saw her as a useful vessel to launder garbage into the conversation, truth be damned.”
Mr Witkoff reposted Mr Vance's statement and thanked him.
The Politico piece said Mr Witkoff is easily distracted, is not a “voracious” consumer of his intelligence briefings and flies to Moscow without bringing any policy experts.
It also pointed to a lack of preparation ahead of this month's summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as a failure to secure any meaningful concessions from Moscow.
“What I’m here to do is actually bring two sides together, narrow the issues and get it to a place where we can build political capital and fix this stupid thing,” Mr Witkoff told Politico.
