When US President Donald Trump wished somebody to fulfill Russian President Vladimir Putin final week to open negotiations for a possible deal to finish the Russia-Ukraine battle, he did not dispatch his secretary of state.
The person he despatched to the Kremlin to deal with a titanic geopolitical problem doesn’t also have a diplomatic background.
As a substitute Trump picked his private buddy, golf buddy and billionaire actual property developer Steve Witkoff.
The president has made Witkoff his Center East envoy. However final week the Bronx-born businessman discovered himself in discussions about ending a battle in Japanese Europe – having been “with [Putin] for a really prolonged interval, like about three hours”, in Trump’s phrases.
Witkoff was in Moscow to assist facilitate a deal that noticed the US and Russia swap prisoners, which was seen as signalling a attainable thaw in relations between the 2 nations.
Witkoff additionally performed a component in brokering the present ceasefire settlement between Israel and Hamas, for which each Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden took credit score.
Although he was not but formally in his publish, Witkoff flew to Tel Aviv to fulfill Netanyahu earlier than the deal was brokered in Qatar. He then frolicked with Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk in Doha, who later praised their cooperation, calling it a “very shut partnership, even friendship”, in accordance with the Washington Publish.
Witkoff is now returning to the area, particularly Saudi Arabia, for the primary US-Russian face-to-face talks over the battle in Ukraine after Trump had his personal name with Putin. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz are additionally attending.
However the daring strikes made by Trump’s crew are stirring concern amongst Western allies, who concern a brand new world order by which key gamers are shut out of discussions. Ukraine and different European nations weren’t invited to the Saudi assembly.
So, who’s Witkoff – dubbed by US media as “the person within the room”, taking centre stage as extra probably consequential worldwide talks happen?
He was one in all Trump’s first picks for his high crew after his presidential election win in November. Trump wrote: “Steve shall be an unrelenting voice for PEACE, and make us all proud.”
“The president sees Steve as one of many world’s nice dealmakers,” a White Home official advised Axios. Witkoff’s most popular negotiating tactic was to make use of allure, in accordance with one other affiliate, however he might additionally flip up the stress.
The 67-year-old was raised in Lengthy Island, New York and educated as an actual property developer in one in all America’s most cut-throat markets.
As a long-time Republican donor, he has identified Trump for many years, and, just like the president, made his fortune in actual property in each New York and Florida.
Addressing final 12 months’s Republican Nationwide Conference, throughout which he recalled chatting with Trump within the aftermath of an assassination try, Witkoff referred to as the opposite man his “true and expensive buddy… in good instances and dangerous instances”.
The 2 males are additionally long-time {golfing} companions, US Senator Lindsey Graham advised NBC Information. “Steve and I’d be the 2 guys who would play Trump and any person else, and lose,” Graham mentioned.
It was throughout a shared {golfing} session in Florida final September that one other alleged would-be Trump attacker was foiled by the Secret Service. Trump mentioned he and Witkoff had been bundled into golf carts as brokers moved to counter a suspect within the bushes.
Graham additionally mentioned that Witkoff first talked about his curiosity in changing into Center East envoy to Trump throughout a lunchtime dialog. “That shocked me, as a result of I did not know he was within the Mideast,” Graham mentioned.
Witkoff’s remit as Center East envoy can also be reported to incorporate diplomacy with Iran. Individuals conversant in the matter advised the Monetary Instances he had been chosen to spearhead a nuclear cope with Tehran as a part of a broader plan to “cease the wars” within the area.
Witkoff’s deal-making expertise had been on show throughout Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign. He helped to ease rigidity between Trump and his defeated Republican presidential major rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Witkoff additionally reportedly met Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to easy issues over, after Kemp drew Trump’s scorn for refusing to help his unfounded claims of fraud within the 2020 election which Trump misplaced to Biden.
He presently serves as chairman of the College of Miami’s enterprise college actual property advisory board, and was appointed by Trump throughout his first time period to the board of trustees of the John F Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts.
