The fallout over Nick Schifrin’s Saturday scoop concerning Trump’s supposed 28-point ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine – that apparently is a Russian-written document – continues to reverberate in the Beltway. Mediate reports:
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-ND), according to PBS NewsHour reporter Nick Schifrin, said Rubio called him and other lawmakers to make it “very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives. It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”
Rounds continued:
“It is a proposal that was received. And as an intermediary, we have made arrangements to share it. And we did not release it. It was leaked. It was not released by our members or our representatives… This is an opportunity to receive it and that it has been utilized and delivered to the Ukrainians, and that they will have an opportunity to respond. And in doing so, you now have one side being presented and the opportunity for the other side to respond.”
Team Trump is pushing back aggressively, according to a new report from PBS:
Lawmakers critical of President Donald Trump’s approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said Saturday they spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told them that the peace plan Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual proposal offering Washington’s positions.
A State Department spokesperson denied their account, calling it “blatantly false.”
Rubio himself then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. The secretary of state doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal that had surprised many from the beginning for being so favorable to Moscow.
Last night, PBS’s Nick Schifrin, via the app formerly known as Twitter, reported:
BREAKING: After talking to @SecRubio, @SenatorRounds announces that the 28 point plan was a Russian document, not a US document.
Full @SenatorRounds: “@SecRubio did make a phone call to us this afternoon. I think he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was delivered to one of our representatives. It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan. It is a proposal that was received. And as an intermediary, we have made arrangements to share it. And we did not release it. It was leaked. It was not released by our members or our representatives… This is an opportunity to receive it and that it has been utilized and delivered to the Ukrainians, and that they will have an opportunity to respond. And in doing so, you now have one side being presented and the opportunity for the other side to respond.”
MORE from @SenAngusKing: “The leaked 28-point plan, which, according to @SecRubio, is not of the administration’s position–it is essentially the wish list of the Russians.”
@SenAngusKing @SecRubio .@SenatorRounds confirms that the 28 point plan was delivered to @SEPeaceMissions: “This was a proposal which was received by someone who has identified and they believed to be representing Russia in this proposal. It was given to @SteveWitkoff.”
@SenAngusKing @SecRubio @SenatorRounds @SEPeaceMissions @SteveWitkoff And .@SenatorRounds says there are no threats to cut off American weapons or intelligence: “With regard to the discussion that there would be threats of items taken… information being withheld and so forth–@SecRubio did say that he was not aware of any of that.”
@SenAngusKing @SecRubio @SenatorRounds @SEPeaceMissions @SteveWitkoff Big news all going down at @HFXforum
And it’s turning ugly very quickly…
DEVELOPING HARD…
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