‘Just Staggering’: Trump Aide’s Leaked Phone Call With Putin Advisor Stuns Pundits

Credit: Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant Photo/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)

Bloomberg News stunned the political world on Tuesday by releasing the leaked transcript of a call between Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian foreign-policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, which took place on Oct. 14.

The transcript shows Witkoff coaching his Russian counterpart on how to flatter President Donald Trump in order for him to be more amenable to Russia’s wants in the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

The transcript also included Witkoff telling the Russians, “I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere. But I’m saying instead of talking like that, let’s talk more hopefully because I think we’re going to get to a deal here. And I think Yuri, the president will give me a lot of space and discretion to get to the deal.”

Bloomberg also published an October 29 “phone call between Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s most senior foreign-policy adviser, and Kirill Dmitriev, an economic adviser to the Russian president.”

During that call, Dmitriev appeared to suggest that the draft of the recent peace plan came from Russia. “ No, look. I think we’ll just make this paper from our position, and I’ll informally pass it along, making it clear that it’s all informal. And let them do like their own. But, I don’t think they’ll take exactly our version, but at least it’ll be as close to it as possible,” said Dmitriev. The Trump-backed proposal was quickly derided as offering too many concessions to Russia, including by many GOP members of Congress.

Many pundits were quick to express their surprise at the contents of the calls.

The Economist’s foreign correspondent, Oliver Carroll, shared some of the transcript and wrote, “Even in the age of Trump, just staggering. Here is Steve Witkoff, an American offical, coaching a Kremlin adviser about how Putin should deal with Trump. ‘Congratulate the president on this achievement … that he is a man of peace.’”

The Financial Times’s Christopher Miller wrote, “Remarkable story. Stunning stuff even if it’s what we have come to expect from Witkoff. Here he explicitly advises Russian officials how Putin should deal with Trump, and also shows a staggering, fundamental misunderstanding of Putin’s goals and the war.”

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) reacted by writing, “This is a major problem. And one of the many reasons why these ridiculous side shows and secret meetings need to stop. Allow Secretary of State Marco Rubio to do his job in a fair and objective manner.”

Below are some more reactions:

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