The real estate mogul and Trump golf buddy who is negotiating the fate of Gaza and Ukraine
Steve Witkoff, who has no diplomatic experience, has already met Putin twice in person.
WashingtonWhen Joe Biden was in the White House, the go-to figure for Gaza and Ukraine was Antony Blinken, the then Secretary of State. But now it's not the name of Marco Rubio, the current head of US diplomacy, that comes up every time negotiations are mentioned. Two of the most important international portfolios for the new Donald Trump administration fall to someone else: Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate mogul and old friend and golf partner of the president. A person with no diplomatic experience.
When it came to distributing posts in the new government, Trump appointed Witkoff as the special envoy for the Middle East. In January, he played a key role in the negotiations led by the outgoing Biden administration to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel has now broken off. But since then, the New York businessman has become more involved in negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. In Washington, they have already begun to refer to each other as the fixer [solver] Trump because he has been responsible for meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on two occasions.
Witkoff's first known visit to Moscow in his capacity as fixer It was in February. The special envoy met with Putin to negotiate the return of American professor Marc Fogel, who had been held in Russia for 14 years, in exchange for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian businessman convicted of money laundering in the US. The meeting lasted three and a half hours, as Witkoff himself described in a later interview.
The second trip to Russia was two weeks ago for present the draft 30-day ceasefire for Ukraine. On this occasion, Putin made him wait about eight hours until he could meet with him. It was after Witkoff's conversation with Putin that Trump later said he had "a real possibility" of reaching a ceasefire. Beyond serving as an emissary, Witkoff has also been one of the members of the US delegation who have sat at the negotiating table in Saudi Arabia.
Unlike Rubio, who has been certified by the Senate for the position of Secretary of State, Witkoff has been handpicked by Trump. Along with Elon Musk, who is also a citizen designated as a "special government employee" who has not passed any parliamentary scrutiny, Witkoff is another figure who has gained considerable influence within the inner circle to the detriment of the Secretary of State. Rubio must resign himself to sharing his two most important portfolios with a person who has no experience in politics, much less in diplomacy, and, as explained by internal sources at the White House in Vanity Fair, sometimes the Secretary of State feels like he's the last to know about decisions. Witkoff, like Rubio, was also in the mistakenly leaked Signal group where detailed plans for bombing Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15 were shared. A CBS analysis of the unsealed flight data, in contrast to Russian media reports, suggests Witkoff was in Moscow when he joined the Signal chat.
Testimony in the tax fraud case
The choice of Witkoff to broker the settlements in both conflicts is once again a reflection of how Trump sees the world and the figures he truly respects: strong, successful figures who, in his opinion, are good at business. In a way, it could be said that Witkoff not only represents the United States government but is a kind of extension of the image Trump wants to project to the world. Not to mention that he is a figure of his utmost confidence.
Within the vantage point Trump has built by surrounding himself with loyal people, Witkoff is one of the president's closest associates and has amply proven his loyalty. In 2023, during Trump's trial for tax fraud in New York, Witkoff appeared as a witness called by the magnate's defense. During that session, where the Trump Organization was being investigated for defrauding $250 million, Witkoff recounted the origins of his friendship with the current president.
"I asked him for a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich," Witkoff said, explaining how the 1986 meeting with Trump in New York began their current friendship. They had ended up in a convenience store. deli of the city after working together on a transaction. From there, a friendship developed, with Witkoff even advising Trump on his tax breaks during his first presidency.
The second attempt on Trump's life
Witkoff began his career in New York real estate as a lawyer specializing in the sector and later founded a management company focusing on residential buildings in the city. In 1997, he founded his own real estate firm, Witkoff, where he currently serves as president and CEO. He now lives in Florida, as does Trump, with whom he often plays golf.
The camaraderie in golf is such that Witkoff happened to be on Trump's golf course in Palm Beach last September when a Secret Service agent thwarted what appeared to be a second assassination attempt against the Republican. He later explained to Fox some details about how the episode unfolded. Although Witkoff declined to charge money for serving as a witness during the tax fraud trial, ProPublica revealed in 2021 that he gave more than $2 million to political action committees for Trump's first election campaign.
