Advertisement

Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Monday, March 24, 2025

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff drew ire online for his comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin -- chiefly that he would "take him at his word" as talks for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continue in their ongoing war.

More

Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner is one of the UK's most experienced & knowledgable journalists. His disdain for Witkoff is a joy: "Steve Witkoff isn't a professional negotiator, he knows very little about foreign affairs. He's a New York property tycoon who plays golf with Donald Trump."

[image or embed]

-- News Eye (@newseye.bsky.social) March 24, 2025 at 8:17 AM

Comments

Admin's note: Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

More from the article...

... Witkoff has emerged as one of the main players in the Trump administration's negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, and recently traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin. ...

Witkoff had already drawn some backlash for seeming to use Russian talking points to justify the argument that Ukraine may need to relinquish the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions -- the first two taken at the start of the February 2022 invasion and the latter two taken subsequently during the war. All of this is subsequent to Moscow invading Crimea in 2014 and holding it to this day.

In his interview with Carlson, Witkoff cited referendums held in those regions after their capture in which they said they wanted to be under Russian control -- referendums the U.S. and Western allies have condemned as illegitimate. He also said that they are "Russian-speaking" regions in which Russia has "de facto control."

He doubled down on his position during his Fox News Sunday interview, telling Bream that Russia views these areas as Russian territory and the referendums "justify these actions."

"I just don't see that he [Putin] wants to take all of Europe... I take him at his word in this sense, and I believe the Europeans are beginning to come to that belief, too," he said. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-03-24 12:27 PM | Reply

Related ...

Steve Witkoff Says Putin Not a 'Bad Guy', Stumbles on Ukraine Geography
www.newsweek.com

... U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has said he "liked" Russian President Vladimir Putin, while stumbling over the specifics of the most contentious issues between Moscow and Kyiv in ongoing ceasefire discussions. ...

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-03-24 12:29 PM | Reply

So... the Trump admin likes Pres Putin, and says Pres Putin can be trusted.

Meanwhile, Pres Zelenskyy is ambushed in an Oval Office meeting.

Golden Earring - Twilight Zone (1982)
www.youtube.com


#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-03-24 01:04 PM | Reply

He sounds like a WWE hire....

#4 | Posted by Corky at 2025-03-24 01:26 PM | Reply

Trump Adviser Draws Ire, Says He Takes Putin 'at His Word'

Why shouldn't he? It's not like there's any downside (from Orange Puh-solini's perspective) when he's wrong.

#5 | Posted by censored at 2025-03-24 01:55 PM | Reply

MAGA Panics After Peace Envoy Says He Was Duped

www.thedailybeast.com

These MAGA fools are getting clowned left and right.

#6 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2025-03-24 01:56 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

"Russiagate was a hoax!"

-blind morons

#7 | Posted by SpeakSoftly at 2025-03-24 02:14 PM | Reply

Special Envoy is especially garbage

#8 | Posted by hamburglar at 2025-03-24 03:15 PM | Reply

Witkoff will have a particularly short run

#9 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-03-24 10:25 PM | Reply

Another one of Trump's failed white guy hires.

#10 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-03-25 05:05 AM | Reply

No American negotiator should presume to be negotiating for Ukraine; yet is just a PR stunt to let Trump cut off aid to Ukraine which was invaded by Russia whether Trump can remember that far in the past or not.

#11 | Posted by danni at 2025-03-25 08:01 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 3

Another "dotard." Trump is surrounded by a confederacy of dunces.

#12 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2025-03-25 12:37 PM | Reply

Why shouldn't he? It's not like there's any downside (from Orange Puh-solini's perspective) when he's wrong.

#5 | Posted by censored

An apt tweak: "Poo-solini"

#13 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2025-03-25 12:39 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

The following HTML tags are allowed in comments: a href, b, i, p, br, ul, ol, li and blockquote. Others will be stripped out. Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

Anyone can join this site and make comments. To post this comment, you must sign it with your Drudge Retort username. If you can't remember your username or password, use the lost password form to request it.
Username:
Password:

Home | Breaking News | Comments | User Blogs | Stats | Back Page | RSS Feed | RSS Spec | DMCA Compliance | Privacy

Drudge Retort