Trump responds to claims Witkoff allegedly advised Moscow: Details
Donald Trump (photo: Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump responded to the Bloomberg transcript, in which special envoy Steve Witkoff allegedly advised the Russians on how to appeal to and win over the American leader, according to a White House broadcast.
According to Trump, there is nothing unusual about this.
“You know, because he's got to sell this to Ukraine. He's got to sell Ukraine to Russia. That's what he is. That's what a dealmaker does. You got to say, "Look, they want this. You've got to convince them with this." You know, that's a very standard form of negotiation,” said the US president.
He also added that he had not heard the leaked audio but noted that Witkoff could be saying the same thing to Ukraine.
“I haven't heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation. And I would imagine he's saying the same thing to Ukraine because each party has to give and take,” Trump summarized.
Which conversation is being discussed and how it relates to the US peace plan
Earlier tonight, Bloomberg published transcripts of two phone conversations.
The first conversation allegedly took place on October 14 between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov.
According to the transcript, Witkoff advised the Russians on how Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin should present Russia’s peace proposals to Trump, emphasizing that the call should occur before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at the White House.
During the discussion, Witkoff suggested that Putin congratulate Trump on a Gaza peace agreement, note that he is a person striving for peace, and mention that Witkoff and Ushakov had discussed developing a similar peace plan regarding Ukraine.
In the second transcript, Ushakov and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev allegedly appeared. They discussed that Dmitriev would pass the developed peace plan to Witkoff, while Ushakov feared that the US might alter it in a way unfavorable to Russia.
Bloomberg also noted that it could not confirm exactly which proposals Moscow shared with Washington or the extent to which they influenced the 28-point plan. This refers to the original document, which was revised in Geneva on Sunday, November 23.
Dmitriev has already responded to the publication, stating on X that the Bloomberg report is allegedly fake.
