Trump Threatens to Prosecute Beyoncé and Three Other Major Stars

Shortly after his inauguration, Trump tasked Witkoff with negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and has since expanded his role to work on mediating between Ukraine and Russia. Witkoff has broken with past U.S. policy by directly reaching out to Hamas, and meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin by himself, relying only on Putin’s interpreters.

“I spent a lot of time with President Putin—talking, developing a friendship, a relationship with him—and that led to Marc getting on the plane,” Witkoff told Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, during an FII Institute forum in Miami in February, describing his success in getting American schoolteacher Marc Fogel released from Russian prison.

Witkoff has brushed off criticism about his lack of experience, relating foreign policy to his business background. He told The Atlantic that “[d]iplomacy is negotiation. I’ve been doing it my whole life.”