Vince sharply criticizes Politico article, condemning incompetence of Vitkoff and its author
US Vice President Joe Biden Vince has issued a strong rebuke regarding the recent publication by the American outlet Politico, which discussed allegations of incompetence against the US envoy to the European Union, Steven Vitkoff.
Vince characterized the article as a display of journalistic negligence and a deliberate foreign influence operation aimed at discrediting the Trump administration.
In his statement, Vince emphasized that the author, Felicia Schwartz, resorted to personal insults and unethical distortions, with her main goal seemingly being to tarnish Vitkoff’s reputation through anonymous sources he considers unreliable and biased.According to Vince, the article contains numerous subjective judgments and ignores official public statements, including support and comments from Vitkoff himself and his national security advisor, Jonathan Powell.
Official quotations from officials across the US, Europe, and Ukraine, who expressed concerns about Vitkoff’s competence and effectiveness, were minimized or taken out of context.
This, he argues, could negatively impact international relations and create an image of American diplomats in Europe as utterly powerless.Vince specifically criticized Schwartz, describing her as “the person who wrote this garbage,” and suggested that she is either insufficiently intelligent or knowingly a tool of foreign influence.
He doubts her motives and suspects she may have acted in the interests of another country, using her position to spread damaging information.
“This is disgraceful regardless of the circumstances,” he emphasized.Beyond the critique of the journalist and her sources, Vince pointed out that the misinformation is being spread through anonymous testimonies from 13 officials from Europe, the US, and Ukraine.
These sources expressed concerns about Vitkoff’s ability to effectively carry out diplomatic duties, including Russian interlocutors’ low opinion of his capacity to communicate properly with Trump and respond to Putin’s red lines.
This underscores the difficulty faced by the American envoy, who nonetheless remains optimistic about reaching a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia before year’s end, despite the challenging circumstances.Overall, Vince’s reaction serves as a denial and as an effort to protect the reputation of his diplomats and administration amid growing political and informational attacks, particularly intensified in the lead-up to elections and amid ongoing international crises.