OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:21 PM – Friday, February 14, 2025
Vice President JD Vance’s communications director told the press that the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) outlet misrepresented Vance’s remarks about President Donald Trump’s strategy for resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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The WSJ promoted their “exclusive” piece by posting on X on Thursday night, reporting: “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.”
Soon after, in an early Friday morning response, Vance’s communications director, William Martin, flat out denied the outlet’s allegation — asserting that the GOP vice president “didn’t make any threats” whatsoever.
“This is pure fake news,” Martin posted on X with screenshots from the transcript of Vance’s interview. “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.”
Vance’s answers to two questions posed by a WSJ reporter were displayed in Martin’s transcript graphics.
The first question touched on whether the U.S. had “a sense as to what is the stick for Putin” or if the country was aware of “any pressure” to put on the Russian president.
Vance responded, saying: “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.”
Vance was also asked to clarify if NATO membership for Ukraine and the presence of American forces in Ukraine are “not officially off the table.”
“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,” Vance said in response.
On social media, the vice president, who was in Europe to speak at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday, restated Trump’s position in regard to the question of whether Americans should expect a potential presence of U.S. forces 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 stated on X on Friday morning.
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