Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that a recent Politico report claiming that President Donald Trump is thinking about lifting sanctions that he has imposed on Russia is fake news.
According to Breitbart News, both Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, have released a joint statement on the matter.
Take a look:
This is unequivocally false.
Neither Steve Witkoff nor I have had any conversations about lifting sanctions against Russia as part of a deal with Ukraine.
This is journalistic malpractice. If @POLITICO has an ounce of integrity they will fully retract this piece of fiction. pic.twitter.com/AoYFz7wWLA
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) April 24, 2025
Background
In case you missed it, Politico recently released a report entitled “White House debates lifting sanctions on Russia energy assets, Nord Stream.”
The report begins:
The White House is debating whether to lift sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and potentially other Russian assets in Europe as part of discussions on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, five people familiar with the discussions told POLITICO.
As is often the case with such reports, we have yet to learn who these five individuals are.
The purpose of Politico’s report, however, is clear. It is to try, for the umpteenth time, to push the Russia-Trump collusion narrative.
The outlet goes on to claim:
Restarting Nord Stream 2 could provide a financial windfall to Moscow, but only if the EU agreed to accept buying Russian gas via the pipeline again — a prospect that seems unlikely given the EU’s campaign to wean itself off Russian energy imports. But lifting the sanctions would amount to a diplomatic coup for Russia and a major concession from Trump.
It’s fake news
This report from Politico prompted a swift response from the Trump administration. Unlike Politico’s five anonymous sources, we know exactly who denied the outlet’s reporting, namely, Rubio and Witkoff.
“This is false. Neither of us have had any conversations about lifting sanctions on Russia as part of a peace deal with Ukraine,” they said.
The two added, “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.”
At the time of this writing, Politico has not retracted the piece.
It has, however, included the above statement in the original report, indicating that Rubio and Witkoff “denied the discussions about easing sanctions had taken place.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Oliver Winters
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