When US President Donald Trump wanted to meet a Russian person, Vladimir Putin, last week to open negotiations for a possible deal to end the war of Russia and Krin, the Foreign Minister did not send.
The man who sent him to the Kremlin to deal with the geopolitical challenge Titanic has no even diplomatic background.
Instead, Trump chose his personal friend, golf friend and billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkeov.
The President Witkoff made his envoy in the Middle East. But last week, Brunex’s businessman found himself in discussions about ending the conflict in Eastern Europe – with ” [Putin] For a very long time, like about three hours, “Trump said.
Witkoff was in Moscow to help facilitate a deal that witnessed the prisoners of the United States and Russia, which was seen as indicating a possible melting in relations between the two countries.
Witkoff also played a mediation role in the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden won the credit.
Although he was not official in office, Wittouf fled to Tel Aviv to meet Netanyahu before mediating the deal in Qatar. Then he spent a time with Biden Brett McGurk envoy in Doha, who later praised their cooperation, describing him as a “very close partnership, even friendship”, according to the Washington Post.
Witkoff is now returning to the region, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for the first face -to -face talks on the war in Ukraine after Trump received his own invitation with Putin. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Walz also attend.
But the bold moves by the Trump team raises anxiety between Western allies, who fear a new global system in which the main players are closed from discussions. Ukraine and other European countries were not invited to the Saudi meeting.
Therefore, who is Witkoff – which is called the American media as “the man in the room”, and it occupies the center of the lead where international conversations are taking place more likely?
It was one of Trump’s first choices for his highest team after winning the presidential elections in November. Trump wrote: “Steve will be an irreplaceable voice for peace, and it all makes us proud.”
“The president believes that Steve is one of the world’s largest showrooms,” a White House official told Axios. Witkoff’s favorite negotiation tactics was the use of magic, according to another partner, but it can also increase the pressure.
The 67 -year -old grew up in Long Island, New York and his training as a real estate developer in one of the most markets in America.
As a long -term Republican donor, Trump has known for decades, and like the president, he achieved his wealth in real estate in New York and Florida.
In his speech before the Republican National Congress for the past year, which during his talk to Trump recalled in the wake of an assassination attempt, and he described the other man, “his true and dear friend … in good times and bad times.”
American Senator Lindsey Graham said the two men were also a golf comrades for a long time. “I will be the two players who will play Trump and someone else and lose,” said Graham.
During a joint golf session in Florida last September, another possible striker Trump was thwarted by the Secret Service. Trump said he and Witkoff were assembled in golf carts, where the agents moved to confront the suspect in the bushes.
Graham also said that Wittouf mentioned his interest in becoming an envoy in the Middle East to Trump during a conversation at lunch. Graham said: “I am amazed, because I did not know that he was interested in the Middle East,” Graham said.
Witkoff was also reported as an Middle East envoy that includes diplomacy with Iran. People familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that he was chosen to lead a nuclear deal with Tehran as part of a broader “stopping” plan in the region.
The skills of making deals in Witkoff were shown during the Trump 2024 campaign. Helped to reduce tension between Trump and the defeated Republican presidential elementary competition, Florida Governor Ron Desantis.
According to Wittakov, the governor of Georgia Brian Kemp, to soften matters, after Kemp renewed Trump’s contempt for his refusal to support his baseless allegations of fraud in the 2020 elections that Trump lost to Biden.
He is currently Chairman of the Real Estate Advisory Board of the College of Business Administration at Miami University, and Trump appointed him during his first term at the John F. Kennedy Center for Dramatic Arts.
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