President Donald Trump appears unfazed that a Cabinet-level envoy appeared to be advising the other side in ongoing foreign-policy negotiations.
After Bloomberg published a bombshell report on Tuesday revealing a purported transcript of U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff, who has been credited with helping to broker the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and who is currently working on U.S. efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, guiding Vladimir Putin’s senior foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov on how the Kremlin could best get through to Trump.
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According to the transcript, which TIME could not independently verify, Witkoff recommended during the Oct. 14 conversation with Ushakov that Putin speak on the phone with Trump before the U.S. President was due to meet with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on Oct. 17. Witkoff also recommended that Putin “congratulate” Trump and flatter him as a “man of peace.”
Instead of Putin getting into with Trump the difficult details of what sorts of sacrifices a deal would entail, Witkoff suggested, “let’s talk more hopefully … And I think Yuri, the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.”
Putin apparently followed through. A Kremlin readout of an Oct. 16 call with Trump said that Putin “started out by congratulating Donald Trump on his successful efforts to normalise the situation in the Gaza Strip.” A few weeks later, the Trump Administration unveiled a 28-point peace proposal for Ukraine that was reportedly drafted by Witkoff. Observers said it heavily favored Russia’s priorities, and Reuters reported that it drew significantly from a paper outlining Russia’s conditions for an end to the war.
The Bloomberg report on Witkoff’s conversation—along with the subsequent Russia-friendly peace proposal—has drawn skepticism from some critics about Witkoff’s allegiances.
“Actual traitor,” posted Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California.
“It is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians. He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations,” posted Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. “Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.”
But just as Witkoff predicted in his call with Ushakov, Trump reiterated his trust in Witkoff to sort out the details needed to get the deal done.
White House communications director Steven Cheung in a post on X called Witkoff a “successful negotiator” and said that “there’s nothing wrong with what was said” on the call.
“That’s a standard thing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday when asked about Witkoff’s reported private conversation with the Russian. “That’s what a dealmaker does.”
On Truth Social, Trump announced that Witkoff would meet with Putin in Moscow to finalize the peace plan.
Who is Steve Witkoff?
Witkoff has become known as one of Washington’s chief diplomats and negotiators, with the Atlantic even calling him Trump’s “real Secretary of State.”
The special envoy led talks with Russia at the beginning of Trump’s second term to secure the release of American prisoner Marc Fogel, was at the center of negotiations to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and has become the point-person for discussions with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine.
But before all that, he has been a friend and golf buddy of Trump’s for decades.
When he testified during Trump’s fraud trial in 2023, Witkoff recalled that his friendship with Trump started at a New York deli in 1986. Witkoff, as a young lawyer, had previously worked for the firm Dreyer & Traub, where Trump was a client, and the two had worked on a transaction together. “I ordered him a ham and swiss,” Witkoff said, according to Courthouse News, which also reported that Witkoff recalled Trump having no cash on him. Trump would remember that interaction several years later, according to Witkoff, and it would kickstart a friendship so deep that Witkoff’s first grandson would later be named after Trump. During the Republican National Convention last year, Witkoff recalled how Trump “showed up” for him when he lost his son Andrew to an opioid overdose in 2011.
Over the years, Witkoff donated millions to Trump’s political campaigns, and during Trump’s first term, he became part of Trump’s COVID-19 pandemic economic response group. When Trump won in the 2024 elections, Witkoff became Trump’s inauguration committee co-chair. Days later, Trump announced that Witkoff would be his special envoy to the Middle East, despite his lack of diplomatic experience.
Foreign ties under scrutiny
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that Witkoff’s diplomacy, particularly in the Middle East, sometimes appears to mix with his family’s business interests—not unlike the Trump family. But more recently, critics have raised concerns about Witkoff’s closeness with Russia.
Witkoff’s mandate expanded beyond the Middle East in March, when Trump changed the scope of his previously appointed envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Keith Kellogg, to focus just on Ukraine and put Witkoff in charge of negotiations with Russia.
Witkoff was criticized early on by Zelensky and others for allegedly parroting Russian talking points and even relying during diplomatic talks on the Kremlin’s Russian language interpreter.
Several journalists and social media users have since recalled Witkoff’s history with Russian figures following Bloomberg’s report.
Ine Iversen, an independent reporter covering Ukraine, posted a thread on X that claimed Witkoff “has spent three decades swimming in russian money, russian mob circles, and russian real-estate pipeline.” Others have cited American journalist Craig Unger, who wrote on Substack recently about what he described as Witkoff’s ties to the “Russian Mafia.”
Iversen and Unger pointed to how real estate magazine The Real Deal reported in 2013 that Witkoff submitted a recommendation for indicted Russian mobster Anatoly Golubchik when he applied to live in a condominium building in New York.
On X, some users have also tied Witkoff to Len Blavatnik, a Ukraine-born businessman who partnered with Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg was sanctioned by the U.S. for his ties to Putin, while Blavatnik, despite divesting from all Russian assets following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, was sanctioned by Ukraine in 2023 amid national security concerns.
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