When it came time for Donald Trump to choose a special envoy to work on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, the president had a small army of experienced, knowledgeable and qualified diplomats to choose from. The Republican tapped Steve Witkoff for the job instead.
As The New York Times reported soon after, the choice “prompted head-scratching in diplomatic circles.” The report added, “Many foreign officials had never heard of Mr. Witkoff, a billionaire New York real estate developer who has known Mr. Trump since the mid-1980s. The president’s new envoy not only lacked expertise in the region apart from some business dealings, he had no diplomatic experience.”
It seemed pretty obvious that Witkoff was in over his head, and he effectively admitted as much to Tucker Carlson during an interview in March. “I underestimated the complications in the job, that’s for sure,” he said. “I think I was a little bit quixotic in the way that I thought about it. Like, I’m going to roll in there on a white horse. And no, it was anything but that, you know.”
Eight months later, with conditions in Ukraine arguably worse than when he started, Witkoff is still demonstrating that he is the wrong man for the job. NBC News reported:
Witkoff advised [Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide] on how to best appeal to Trump about a peace plan and suggested setting up a call with Putin prior to a White House visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to a transcript of the Oct. 14 call published by Bloomberg News. Bloomberg said it had reviewed a recording of the call but did not say how it obtained access to it.
The White House made no effort to deny the accuracy or authenticity of the transcript. On the contrary, when a reporter asked Donald Trump about the revelations, the president characterized his envoy’s advice as “a standard thing.”
Fortunately, even some congressional Republicans knew better. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, for example, wrote online that Witkoff offering the Kremlin advice on advancing a one-sided agreement represents “a major problem.” The Republican added that the news was “one of the many reasons why these ridiculous side shows and secret meetings need to stop.”
Around the same time, Republican Rep. Don Bacon, who’s retiring next year, went even further.
“For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign [and] democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians,” the Nebraskan wrote via social media. “He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations.”
Bacon concluded, “Would a Russian paid agent do less than he? He should be fired.”
There’s no reason to believe the unqualified special envoy will be fired, but the pushback offers a timely reminder that it’s not only Democrats who have a problem with the White House’s efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine on Russia’s terms.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
