The Wall Street Journal mischaracterized Vice President JD Vance’s comments concerning President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war, according to Vance’s communications director.
The Journal promoted an “exclusive” story by posting on X late Thursday night, “Vance pledged to hit Russia with sanctions and potentially military action if Putin won’t agree to a peace deal that guarantees Ukraine’s independence.”
However, Vance’s communications director, William Martin, responded early Friday morning by refuting the Journal’s claim, saying the vice president “didn’t make any threats.”
“This is pure fake news,” Martin posted on X with screenshots from the transcript of Vance’s interview with the newspaper. “Compare the transcript of @JDVance’s conversation with WSJ to the headline being run here.”
“The Vice President didn’t make any threats. He simply stated the fact that no one is going to take options away from President Trump as these negotiations begin.”
Libs of TikTok agreed with Martin.
“WSJ just got a Community Note for making up lies and intentionally being dishonest about what VP Vance said,” Libs of TikTok posted on X. “Another CN win!”
Martin’s transcript images showed Vance’s responses to two questions from a Journal reporter.
The first question concerned whether the U.S. had “a sense as to what is the stick for Putin” or knew of “any pressure” to put on the Russian president.
Vance: “I think certainly look there, there are instruments of pressure, absolutely and again, if you look at President Trump’s approach to this, the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There, of course, military tools of leverage. There’s a whole host of things that we could do. But fundamentally, I think the President wants to have a productive negotiation, both with Putin and with Zelenskyy.”
A follow-up question asked Vance to confirm that Ukraine joining NATO and U.S. troops in Ukraine are “not officially off the table.”
Vance: “I think the President has been very clear that he doesn’t like the idea of moving Ukraine into NATO. He’s been very clear about that. I also think the President is very clear that whenever he walks in a negotiation, everything is on the table.”
The vice president, in Europe to speak Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, took to social media to reiterate Trump’s stance regarding the possibility of U.S. troops in Ukraine.
“President Trump is the ultimate deal maker and will bring peace to the region by ending the war in Ukraine. As we’ve always said, American troops should never be put into harm’s way where it doesn’t advance American interests and security. This war is between Russia and Ukraine,” Vance posted on X Friday morning.
The Journal is owned by Dow Jones & Company, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp.
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