Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are pushing back against a report saying they have discussed lifting sanctions on Russian energy assets, calling the anonymously sourced article from Politico ‘totally fictitious’ and ‘fake crap.’

The outlet released a report citing internal White House officials Thursday, indicating Witkoff and Rubio had been in discussions about potentially lifting energy-related sanctions as part of a wider peace negotiation to end the war in Ukraine.

‘This is false,’ Rubio and Witkoff said in a joint statement released by the White House. ‘Neither of us have had any conversations about lifting sanctions on Russia as part of a peace deal with Ukraine. 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.’

The report from Politico claimed ‘five people familiar with the discussions’ said Witkoff has been a ‘main proponent’ of lifting sanctions against Russian energy assets, including the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, one of the country’s main natural gas pipelines that goes to Europe. 

The Politico report claimed Rubio has tried to derail the efforts, saying there is an ongoing rift between U.S. energy export proponents and those who want to improve ties with Russia. 

When reached for comment, a Politico spokesperson said the outlet stands by its reporting.    

‘There isn’t even a kernel of truth to this story – Politico was played by their ‘sources’ yet again,’ Witkoff said in a separate statement posted by his X account after the report was published. ‘It’s embarrassing that they print this type of fake crap.’

‘More bulls— from the liars at Politico smearing Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff with pure fake news,’ Donald Trump Jr. posted on X. ‘How do they get away with continuing to run these fake stories????’

‘I hope Politico has good defamation insurance coverage,’ Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee wrote on social media. ‘Or maybe I don’t.’

‘Politico is a C-rated tabloid, fraught with poor sourcing and a TDS epidemic, pretending to be serious news,’ White House spokesperson Anna Kelly added. ‘This story is one of many pathetic tall tales that have been debunked, but their reporters are too desperate to report fake drama to discern truth from fact.’

Sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline were established during the first Trump administration and waived by President Joe Biden a few months after he entered office. However, Biden reinstituted the sanctions after Russia’s decision to enter into war with Ukraine. 

The energy sector has played a central role in the ongoing negotiations for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. has reportedly proposed taking control of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and is pushing to ink a critical minerals deal to help repay America’s military assistance. The U.S. has also reportedly floated the idea of taking over Ukrainian natural gas pipelines to help with the repayment. 

Russia and Ukraine recently ended a U.S.-brokered temporary truce, agreeing not to attack each other’s energy infrastructure, earlier this month.

But the negotiations reached a critical point after Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. is prepared to walk away from further ceasefire negotiations if the two sides do not strike a deal. Vance’s remarks were followed up by a post on Truth Social by the president, who blasted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to accept the annexation of Crimea as part of a peace deal.

‘We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE,’ Trump said of Zelenskyy in his post. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on this story but did not receive a response in time for publication.   

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Thursday blocked a portion of President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity, specifically provisions related to providing documentary proof of citizenship before being allowed to register to vote.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the order in response to lawsuits filed by three separate groups of plaintiffs over five different provisions in a March 25 Trump executive order relating to election integrity. While Kollar-Kotelly dismissed requests to block three of the provisions, requests to block two other provisions pertaining to a proof of citizenship requirement for voters were granted. 

The first blocked provision sought to compel the Election Assistance Commission to amend standardized national voter registration forms to require documentary proof of citizenship. The second sought to require federal agencies offering voter registration to people on public assistance to ‘assess’ the individual’s citizenship status before doing so.

‘Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States – not the President – with the authority to regulate federal elections. Consistent with that allocation of power, Congress is currently debating legislation that would effect many of the changes the President purports to order,’ Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton-appointee, wrote in her order. ‘No statutory delegation of authority to the Executive Branch permits the President to short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order.’

Kollar-Kotelly said she would not block the other provisions that the groups sought to challenge, which cover mail-in ballots and data collection on citizenship status, calling the challenges ‘premature’ and indicating they would be best challenged at the state level.

Earlier this month, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill requiring proof-of-citizenship to vote in federal elections. The measure still must pass the Senate, however, before the president can sign it into law. 

Meanwhile, 25 states are considering some form of proof-of-citizenship legislation, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which is tracking such legislation. In total, 15 state constitutions have explicit prohibitions against non-citizen voting.

In addition to Trump’s proof-of-citizenship orders getting shot down, two other federal judges from Maryland and New Hampshire also shot down additional orders from the president related to ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in K-12 public schools on Thursday.

The rulings followed lawsuits filed by the National Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. The groups argued that making federal funding contingent on whether educators squash their DEI programs violates First Amendment rights granted by the Constitution.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on this article but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

Leaders of a progressive group in the New York City suburbs are looking to protest a front-line House Republican’s town hall on Sunday night – and Fox News Digital got an inside look at their plans.

Footage from the Indivisible Rockland Organizing Committee’s monthly meeting on Wednesday shows one of the group’s leaders discussing ‘potentially [having] thousands of people out front’ of the event in West Nyack being held by Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., this weekend.

‘It is a long street, and we’re trying to fill the entire street, so everyone coming into the rally will see people there and recognize it’s not going to be all, like, sunshine and daisies,’ organizer Pascale Jean-Gilles can be seen saying.

Jean-Gilles is also a local elected official in Lawler’s district, serving on the Nyack Village Board of Trustees and as deputy mayor.

‘We want to be able to push back on some of the rules that we feel like are really cutting and chilling our First Amendment rights, like saying that we can’t record it. It’s a public meeting,’ Jean-Gilles said.

The demonstration outside Lawler’s town hall will be a joint-organized effort as well, Jean-Gilles said, with ‘local unions’ and other groups.

And while she made clear that her group was only behind the demonstration outside Lawler’s rally, the local elected official appeared to endorse disruptions inside the event as well.

She said the rally rules made it ‘very clear you cannot whoop or shout or yell,’ but added, ‘There will be things we’re not gonna want to hear from him, and we should be able to make it known.’

‘I think that it looks poorly upon him if he’s kicking people out for just booing him, because that is, as people have seen through thousands of Supreme Court cases, that’s an acceptable form of dissent, and it’s covered under First Amendment rights,’ Jean-Gilles said. 

‘Now, if people are shouting slurs and hate speech, that’s where I absolutely draw the line . . . that only feeds into his argument that we’re all crazy leftists and liberals, as opposed to people who live in this community.’

Jean-Gilles said she and other activists would also prepare suggested questions for town hall attendees.

‘We are prepared, and this will be something we may hand out on the day of – a couple of us have been working on just questions that we think that folks will either want to ask, or maybe want to add their own personal twist to,’ the official said. ‘So we’ll have those prepared for people, that just in case their number gets called, if you didn’t already think of one yourself, have a question that you can be prepared to ask.’

Indivisible is a national left-wing organization whose local offshoots have been targeting Republican town halls for much of this year, encouraging activists to disrupt the events from both inside and outside.

An event listed by Indivisible on the organizing platform Mobilize is advertising a full-day event beginning in New York City and ending at Lawler’s town hall on Sunday.

‘Republicans are planning to cut Medicaid, SNAP, and other vital programs to fund massive tax cuts for billionaires. Congress will be home for April Recess and must hear from us,’ the event summary read.

‘Join other activists to inform constituents in NY17/Tarrytown of this outrageous bill, urge them to phone Rep. Lawler to oppose it as well as attending Rep. Lawler’s Town Hall on April 27. We’ll be taking Metro North to Tarrytown.’

Democrats are poised to pour enormous time and resources into New York’s 17th Congressional District, where Lawler is widely seen as one of the most vulnerable House Republicans of the 2026 election cycle.

When reached for comment on plans to disrupt the upcoming town hall, Lawler spokesman Ciro Riccardi told Fox News Digital, ‘It is deeply disappointing that far-left radical groups like Indivisible Rockland are planning to disrupt the upcoming town hall.’

‘These actions undermine our democratic process by stifling civil debate, harming the very constituents who attend to discuss critical voter issues. We remain committed to fostering open, respectful dialogue and will take precautions to ensure a safe environment for all attendees,’ Riccardi said.

Jean-Gilles referred Fox News Digital to the Indivisible Rockland Organizing Committee for comment. 

When reached, the group’s steering committee said it had received ‘hundreds’ of messages from constituents who could not get into Lawler’s town hall.

‘In response, we decided to organize a peaceful demonstration outside the venue. This demonstration is meant to give voice to those who were excluded from the room but still want to be part of the democratic process. We want to make it clear that we are not organizing or endorsing any protest activity inside the town hall,’ Indivisible Rockland said. 

‘It is also important to recognize the truth of the matter: This so-called town hall offers very limited opportunities for real public engagement. That is not right, it is not fair, and, in fact, it goes against the spirit of the Constitution.’

Regarding Jean-Gilles, specifically, the group noted she was hosting the event in a personal capacity unrelated to her government role.

‘Her comments during what was a private organizing meeting reflected the consensus of our group and not her official role or anything related to the governance of Nyack. She accurately underscored our values of free expression and clear boundaries against hate speech and harassment,’ the group said.

‘We hope Congressman Lawler does more than just see this demonstration. We hope he listens. The people showing up are his constituents. They are families, workers, students and neighbors who care deeply about this community and are demanding to be heard. This demonstration is not just a sign of civic involvement, it is a message: We are watching, we are engaged, and we expect better from those in power.’

A federal judge in New Hampshire on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from cutting funding to public schools that maintain diversity programs, a setback to its broader crackdown on DEI.

U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty said the effort by Trump’s Education Department to block federal funding to public schools that continue to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs likely violates the First Amendment, presenting what she described as ‘textbook viewpoint discrimination.’

At issue is a memo sent by the Education Department this month to public schools nationwide, threatening to withhold Title I federal funds from public schools that continue to ‘unfairly’ promote DEI views or programs.

The effort sparked an immediate wave of concern, and lawsuits, across the country from education groups that cited the importance of Title I funds as a critical source of funding for many low-income public schools.

The DEI-slashing effort was met with a wave of court challenges, including a lawsuit filed by the National Education Association, the group’s New Hampshire affiliate chapter, and the Center for Black Educator Development, who challenged the case in New Hampshire’s federal court.

Two other U.S. courts are slated to hear similar challenges to the Education Department’s effort, with one case in Washington, D.C., expected to be heard as early as this week.

McCafferty’s ruling stopped short of issuing a nationwide injunction to block the policy in all 50 states. 

Rather, it blocks the Trump administration from halting the disbursement of Title I funds to any schools that employ or contract with plaintiffs in the lawsuit. 

‘The right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs is … one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes,’ McCafferty said in her 82-page opinion, adding that the actions taken by the Education Department ‘threate[n] to erode these foundational principles.’

She also said the Trump administration failed to provide the court with a sufficient definition of the DEI programs that were at risk as a result of the anti-DEI push.

The order comes after the Trump administration and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit reached a short-term agreement to delay the policy from taking force.

That agreement was slated to expire Thursday, prompting the court to rule on the matter.

President Donald Trump said he is sticking to his own timeline when it comes to hashing out a peace deal to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump’s remarks coincide with a Thursday visit from Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at the White House, and following Wednesday comments saying there was a high likelihood that a peace agreement would emerge within the next several days. 

‘I have my own deadline,’ Trump told reporters Thursday. ‘And we wanted to be fast. And the Prime Minister’s helping us.’ 

‘He wants it to be fast, too,’ he said. ‘And I think everybody in this, at this time in NATO, they want to see this thing happen.’

‘I think it has a very good chance of getting done,’ Trump said. 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital requesting details on Trump’s self-imposed deadline. 

Following criticism of both Russia and Ukraine in recent days, Trump said his only priority is to save lives by securing a peace deal. 

‘I have no allegiance to anybody,’ Trump told reporters Thursday. ‘I have allegiance to saving lives.’

Trump voiced his displeasure with Russia for continuing Thursday strikes on Kyiv, which killed at least 10 and injured at least 90, including children, according to Ukraine. 

‘I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,’ Trump said in a social media post Thursday. ‘Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!’

Additionally, Trump signaled at the Oval Office that he would consider additional sanctions on Russia if Moscow continues to launch strikes against Ukraine. 

‘I’d rather answer that question in a week. I want to see if we can have a deal. No reason to answer it now, but I won’t be happy. Let me put it that way. Things, things will happen.’

Despite these attacks from Russia, Trump also told reporters that ‘we are thinking very strongly that they both want peace, but they have to get to the table.’

Even so, Trump said in a Wednesday post on Truth Social that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s opposition to certain concessions related to territorial control of Crimea would only stall peace negotiations. 

Vice President JD Vance disclosed Wednesday that a proposal is on the table — but if neither party agrees, the U.S. will disengage from advancing the peace talks. Vance said the deal would require both Russia and Ukraine to give up some of their territory, but that the lines would remain ‘close to where they are today.’ 

‘We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the U.S. to walk away from this process,’ Vance told reporters Wednesday. ‘We’ve engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on-the-ground work.’ 

The Trump administration has recently signaled that a deal may be on the horizon, and Trump expressed optimism Sunday that Ukraine and Russia could nail down an agreement that would pave the way for them to start conducting ‘big business’ with the U.S. 

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump has promised since the campaign trail that he would move to end the conflict between the two countries. 

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.