Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are pushing back against a report saying they have discussed lifting sanctions on Russian energy assets, calling the anonymously sourced article from Politico “totally fictitious” and “fake crap.”
The outlet released a report citing internal White House officials Thursday, indicating Witkoff and Rubio had been in discussions about potentially lifting energy-related sanctions as part of a wider peace negotiation to end the war in Ukraine.
“This is false,” Rubio and Witkoff said in a joint statement released by the White House. “Neither of us have had any conversations about lifting sanctions on Russia as part of a peace deal with Ukraine. This is just totally fictitious and irresponsible reporting from Politico, a fifth-rate publication. If they have an ounce of journalistic integrity, they will fully retract this piece of fiction.”
The report from Politico claimed “five people familiar with the discussions” said Witkoff has been a “main proponent” of lifting sanctions against Russian energy assets, including the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, one of the country’s main natural gas pipelines that goes to Europe.
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The Politico report claimed Rubio has tried to derail the efforts, saying there is an ongoing rift between U.S. energy export proponents and those who want to improve ties with Russia.
When reached for comment, a Politico spokesperson said the outlet stands by its reporting.
“There isn’t even a kernel of truth to this story – Politico was played by their ‘sources’ yet again,” Witkoff said in a separate statement posted by his X account after the report was published. “It’s embarrassing that they print this type of fake crap.”
“More bulls— from the liars at Politico smearing Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff with pure fake news,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X. “How do they get away with continuing to run these fake stories????”
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“I hope Politico has good defamation insurance coverage,” Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee wrote on social media. “Or maybe I don’t.”
“Politico is a C-rated tabloid, fraught with poor sourcing and a TDS epidemic, pretending to be serious news,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly added. “This story is one of many pathetic tall tales that have been debunked, but their reporters are too desperate to report fake drama to discern truth from fact.”
Sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline were established during the first Trump administration and waived by President Joe Biden a few months after he entered office. However, Biden reinstituted the sanctions after Russia’s decision to enter into war with Ukraine.
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The energy sector has played a central role in the ongoing negotiations for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. has reportedly proposed taking control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and is pushing to ink a critical minerals deal to help repay America’s military assistance. The U.S. has also reportedly floated the idea of taking over Ukrainian natural gas pipelines to help with the repayment.
Russia and Ukraine recently ended a U.S.-brokered temporary truce, agreeing not to attack each other’s energy infrastructure, earlier this month.
But the negotiations reached a critical point after Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is prepared to walk away from further ceasefire negotiations if the two sides do not strike a deal. Vance’s remarks were followed up by a post on Truth Social by the president, who blasted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to accept the annexation of Crimea as part of a peace deal.
“We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE,” Trump said of Zelenskyy in his post.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on this story but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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