Trump Defends Steve Witkoff After Transcript of Call with Russians Leaks

President Donald Trump shrugged off leaked transcripts of special envoy Steve Witkoff coaching a senior Kremlin official on how to “sell” a potential Ukraine deal to Washington, insisting the conversations were merely “standard negotiations.”

Speaking aboard Air Force One late Tuesday, the president defended Witkoff’s role amid growing concern that the call showed the White House is drifting toward a settlement heavily tilted toward the Kremlin.

The leaked October call, which Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, appears to show Witkoff telling Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, that any peace deal would likely require Ukraine to give up control of Donetsk, a long-standing red line for Kyiv.