‘How?’ Jake Tapper Stunned as Steve Witkoff Claims Dropping Ceasefire Demand Will End Ukraine War ‘Quicker’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper was left stunned by special envoy Steve Witkoff’s insistence that President Donald Trump’s abandonment of ceasefire demand on Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he appeared resolute on before Friday’s Alaskan summit, would end the Ukraine war “quicker.”

During Sunday morning’s State of the Union on CNN, Tapper rolled back a clip of Trump going into the meeting with Putin on Friday, saying that he wanted the “killing to stop” and wanted to “see a ceasefire rapidly.”

The anchor added that overnight on Saturday, Russia had launched “60 aerial attacks across Ukraine,” leaving five dead.

“President Trump had said if he didn’t like what he was hearing in the meeting, he would walk out. Why didn’t he, once it became clear Putin was not going to agree to a ceasefire, which would end the bloodshed now?” Tapper asked Witkoff.

Appearing to duck the question entirely, Witkoff replied: “Jake, the one thing we were there as a mediator, so we were obviously advancing the Ukrainian view. The one thing that the president cannot agree to on behalf of the Ukrainians is any sort of land swap that is for the Ukrainians. They’ve asked us, or stated that to us, and the president is respectful of it, but that’s why we’re moving so quickly to a meeting on Monday at the Oval Office with President [Volodymyr] Zelensky.”

The envoy then outlined how, during the meeting, Trump “covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal.”

Addressing the idea of a ceasefire, he described that as an “interim move” but that where Trump had gotten to in terms of negotiations was much farther: “So I described the ceasefire as the interim move where you would then negotiate towards a peace deal. We made so much progress at this meeting with regard to all the other ingredients necessary for a peace deal that we, that president Trump, pivoted to that place.”

“Now, we’re not waiting a week for a meeting with President Zelensky and the European leaders, or two weeks or three weeks, we’re going into a meeting with them within 48 hours of ending this meeting in Alaska. So we are intent on trying to hammer out a peace deal that ends the fighting permanently, very, very quickly, quicker than a ceasefire,” he added.

Stunned by the idea that delaying a ceasefire could end the fighting “quicker,” Tapper replied: “How would it be quicker than a ceasefire?”

Continuing his line, the anchor pressed: “I understand the idea of, like, a larger peace deal is an important point, but it was President Trump that had said that he wanted a ceasefire, agreed to at the meeting on Friday, and he didn’t get it. And there are now five Ukrainians who are dead because the Russians continue to bombard Ukraine.”

He added: “I still don’t understand how not getting the ceasefire deal is a win. I understand the idea of wanting this bigger package, of course, but a ceasefire would at least stop the bloodshed right now.”

“Jake, the thesis of a ceasefire is that you’d be discussing all of these issues that we resolved in Alaska. You’d be discussing security guarantees,” Witkoff said.

Doubling down on his claim that more progress had been made in the meeting than if Trump had held to seeking a ceasefire, he continued: “There’s not a person on the European team who didn’t acknowledge that we made substantial progress at this meeting. We certainly did. So we cut through all kinds of issues that would have to be discussed and agreed to during a ceasefire period.”

He added: “The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians, that could not have been discussed at this meeting, we intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully, we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon.”

Watch above via CNN.