GOP Senator Slams Kushner, Witkoff Leading Global Peace Talks: ‘Doesn’t Make Any Sense’

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) went off on Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff unilaterally negotiating various peace agreements around the world on behalf of the United States without having ever been confirmed to any official national security role by the U.S. Senate.

Tillis made his remarks to Jonathan Karl, ABC News’s chief Washington correspondent, while at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday.

Karl reported on Tillis’s comments on social media, writing, Tillis “tells me Ukraine/Iran/Gaza talks should not be spearheaded by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff.”

Karl then quoted Tillis directly, “Kushner and Witkoff are very accomplished business people. I’m sure they’re good negotiators, but they’re not subject to Senate confirmation and they’re not subject to oversight.”

Kushner served as a senior advisor to Trump during his first term, which required Trump to waive all the various rules and procedures in order for Kushner to receive a security clearance. Kushner, however, has no official role in Trump’s second administration. Witkoff, a former real estate developer, serves as the United States special envoy to the Middle East and special envoy for peace missions.

“It is suspect that you can negotiate a Ukraine peace, an Iranian situation, a Gaza situation, and whatever, and be the same two people. That doesn’t make any sense to me,” Tillis added in his comments to Karl.

Critics have long cried foul on Kushner and Witkoff’s outsized roles in foreign policy, arguing that they both bring limited experience dealing with foreign leaders and their business interests overseas represent serious conflicts of interest. Kushner opened a private equity firm, Affinity Partners, in 2021 after leaving the White House. The fund has since been funded to the tune of billions of dollars by foreign countries that have interests tied to the various geopolitical crises Kushner works on for his father-in-law.

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