Steve Witkoff, accompanied by President Trump, speaks at the White House on May 28.
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President Trump is defending Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, after a leaked recording appears to show him coaching a Russian official on how to better sell the U.S. president on Moscow’s terms for ending the war with Ukraine.
Trump dismissed any concerns as “a standard thing.”
“Because he has to sell this to Ukraine. He has to sell Ukraine to Russia,” Trump said, aboard Air Force One en route to Florida. “That’s what a negotiator does.”
The controversy has shone a new spotlight on Witkoff, the president’s longtime friend and chief negotiator, who has drawn criticism for his lack of experience and his one-man style of action.
The recording is of an October call preceding the release of the initial 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine that favored Russia.
Bloomberg reviewed audio of the call and published a transcript. NPR has not independently verified the transcript or audio of the call.
Trump said Tuesday evening that he had not heard the audio, but also had no problem with the characterization of the call.
“You have to say, ‘Look, they want this. You have to convince them with this. You know, it’s a very standard form of negotiation,’ he said.
The criticism has been brutal: Witkoff is not seeking a balanced deal, but is giving water to Russia – an adversary of the United States and an aggressor in a war against Ukraine, a strategic partner and European ally.
But Trump doesn’t seem too worried. He sends Witkoff back to Moscow to try to finalize the details of the latest plan with Putin.
Trump and Witkoff have enjoyed a long friendship
Witkoff and the president have been friends for nearly 40 years. Trump calls Witkoff a “special guy” and “my friend.” Their friendship dates back to a chance meeting at a New York Deli at 3 a.m.
Trump had no money on him. “I ordered him a ham and a Swiss,” Witkoff said, according to an article in Courthouse News about his testimony in Trump’s defense during one of Trump’s trials last year.
Witkoff said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that he learned the real estate business from Trump.
“I wanted to be him,” Witkoff said. “Everyone wanted to be him. He would come to 101 Park Avenue, where I was a lawyer. He had this swagger. I would see him come in and say, ‘God, I want to be him.'”
Witkoff described how Trump was there for him when one of his sons died of an opioid overdose in 2011.
“I saw his humanity in quiet moments, away from the spotlight, in hospital rooms where he didn’t have to be — where his presence brought real comfort to my family in a dark hour,” Witkoff said at the Republican National Convention.
During the campaign, Witkoff helped raise funds. Trump has also turned to Witkoff to handle sensitive issues, such as trying to repair ties with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and primary presidential challenger Nikki Haley.
“His best friend, Steve Witkoff, came to our house in South Carolina, talked to me and my husband, and basically wanted a truce between me and Donald Trump,” Haley said. said on his podcast. She told Witkoff that Trump had her support.
Choosing Witkoff for a role his son-in-law filled
Long before entrusting him with the Ukraine peace deal, Trump chose his old friend as his Middle East envoy.
It was the same position that Trump – during his first term – had given to another person whose loyalty was unquestioned: his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Kushner, who now runs an investment firm, also came from a real estate background and handled many tough issues for Trump, including Peace in the Middle East, trade negotiations with Mexico and Canada, immigration reform and certain parts of the administration response to the COVID pandemic.
During President Trump’s first term, his son-in-law Jared Kushner held the position now held by Steve Witkoff. Kushner and Witkoff appeared together on February 20 at a conference in Miami hosted by the nonprofit arm of Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund, the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute.
Many pundits mocked Kushner’s lack of experience when he began his White House tenure, and some raised the same questions about Witkoff.
How Witkoff describes his approach to negotiations
The White House described Witkoff as a trusted friend of the president who left behind a massive business enterprise to serve the country. He does not receive a salary and pays for his own travel.
Witkoff is certainly no stranger to creating Russia-related controversies.
Earlier this year, Witkoff raised eyebrows after appearing on Tucker Carlson’s podcast and saying Putin was “not a bad guy.”
In the same interview, Witkoff explained his approach to negotiations. “There’s no doubt that I always try to put myself in the other person’s shoes because a good deal should be fair to everyone,” he said.
Don Peebles, the real estate entrepreneur, told NPR this spring that he witnessed this attitude during adversarial discussions with Witkoff.
“If I had to sum up his approach, it’s find what the other person, the other party, wants and try to give it to them,” said Peebles, who raised money for former President Barack Obama.
Peebles said he thought Witkoff probably had more experience with high-stakes negotiations than most diplomats.
He remembers being forced to deal with Witkoff in a major real estate deal in New York. Peebles considered walking away. He felt like there was a gun to his head, but never by Witkoff.
Witkoff defused the situation, promising not to disrupt and explaining how they would both be better off as partners, Peebles recalled.
“He took a very confrontational situation from my perspective and not only made the deal, but we’ve been friends ever since.”
The war in Ukraine is not the same as a real estate transaction
But resolving the war in Ukraine is incredibly complex.
Even negotiating giants such as Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker would have difficulty convincing Putin to lay down his arms, according to Aaron David Miller, who has served as a negotiator and analyst for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
“Agreements are made in emergencies,” said Miller, who now works at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “And urgency is a function of two things: how much the parties are suffering and what the prospects for gain are at the moment.”
Miller said the emergency requires a mediator willing to “use honey and vinegar,” or incentives and disincentives, to produce something that Putin and Zelensky will be able to rationalize — as well as sell to their own people.
“I just don’t see Putin willing to make the kinds of concessions that would be necessary to ground this thing and make it work,” Miller said.
