Steve Witkoff emerges as force in Trump's foreign policy
President Trump is leaning on Steve Witkoff, a longtime friend and real estate investor, to facilitate key aspects of his foreign policy, including high-profile ceasefire talks in Gaza and fledgling negotiations with Russia over Ukraine.
Witkoff, a largely unknown figure until recent weeks, has quickly expanded his profile beyond his title of “special envoy to the Middle East,” a result of his strong personal relationship with Trump, officials said, and their shared background in real estate dealmaking.
“Special Envoy Witkoff has brought a wealth of private sector negotiating experience and urgency to the diplomatic stage and we’re already seeing results in just a few weeks,” White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said in a statement to The Hill. “He has been an integral part of President Trump’s national security team to restore peace to the world.”
Witkoff’s friendship with Trump dates back decades. He testified in November 2023 as a defense witness in Trump's civil fraud trial in New York, recounting how he first met in the 1980s at a New York City deli.
In the years since, Witkoff has become an established real estate investor and a player in GOP politics. He partnered with Trump on a cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial; donated millions to Trump’s political groups; and helped arrange a meeting last April between Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to smooth over relations after a bitter primary fight.
Witkoff also took the stage at last July’s Republican National Convention, giving a speech that humanized Trump and recalled how supportive he was when Witkoff’s son died of an overdose. He was also on the golf course with Trump during a second alleged assassination attempt in September.
Trump named Witkoff as his special envoy to the Middle East one week after winning a second term. Some in Congress, particularly lawmakers focused on the Middle East, had never heard of Witkoff when he was first announced.
And while Congress passed a law in 2022 requiring special envoys undergo confirmation proceedings, Trump’s Republican allies show little interest in asserting that authority or interrupting Witkoff’s flow.
“I’m agnostic whether it should be a Senate confirmation or not,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said about Witkoff on Jan 15, the day Israel and Hamas announced a ceasefire. Cornyn is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which would have jurisdiction over hearings of special diplomatic envoys.
A congressional aide said Witkoff may be able to avoid confirmation if he is viewed as working under the White House and not the State Department. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair James E. Risch (R-Idaho) told The Hill in December that “they’re going to go through what the law requires” on envoys.
Early reviews of Witkoff’s efforts from Republicans are positive.
“He knows how to negotiate. He’s a very good negotiator,” Rep. Chris Smith (R.N.J.) said of Witkoff in a brief interview with The Hill last week.
“I think he can look people in the eye and he can make things happen — and that’s what’s going to happen here,” Smith added. “I think he’ll be very effective. I think Trump will be effective.”
Witkoff worked with Biden administration officials in early January to finalize a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, something a senior Biden official said at the time was “almost unprecedented” from Trump’s team and “highly constructive.”
Witkoff has been extremely active since then and has broadened his portfolio.
He was central to negotiating the release of Marc Fogel, an American who had been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years. Witkoff went to Russia himself, flying Fogel back to the United States on his private plane.
Witkoff was back in the diplomatic spotlight earlier this week when he joined Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for initial talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia about ending the Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly chafed at being left out of the talks, prompting a growing war of words with Trump.
Those talks have also come under scrutiny from Democrats, some Republicans and European allies who worry Trump is inching closer to Moscow while ditching years of close U.S. coordination with Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Witkoff called the meetings in Saudi Arabia “positive, upbeat, constructive," and said "Everybody there to get to the right outcome, solution-based.” He said he would determine in the coming weeks whether he would be traveling to Russia.
Witkoff’s elevation as a senior figure in talks to end the war in Ukraine comes even though Trump tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who served as a national security official in his first term, to serve as special envoy to Ukraine and Russia.
The real estate mogul’s involvement has drawn alarm from some Democrats and former diplomats.
Brett Bruen, a former diplomat who served as director of global engagement in the Obama administration, said he did not understand “what the heck Witkoff was doing in the room” in Saudi Arabia.
“It was clear that we did not send a team that would be able to extract compromises from the Kremlin,” Bruen told The Hill. “They broke every rule of high-stakes negotiations, from not showing your cards to excessive eagerness to eke out a deal.”
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