Vice President JD Vance rebuked on Friday morning on X a report on special envoy Steve Witkoff, setting off a deluge of Trump administration officials who came to the U.S. diplomat’s defense.

Vance’s backlash was in response to Politico reporter Felicia Schwartz’s article titled “‘His inexperience shines through’: Steve Witkoff struggles to manage Russia as Trump peace envoy,” which was published on Friday morning. Schwartz wrote that the article, which focused on Witkoff’s style of diplomacy, was based on conversations with 13 U.S. and foreign officials, many of whom remained anonymous.