‘Only Way You Get Deals Done’: Steve Witkoff Tells Jake Tapper How To End A War

Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff explained Sunday to CNN’s Jake Tapper how President Donald Trump is working to end the Ukraine-Russia war after Tapper questioned Russia’s view of the president.

Following through on his campaign promise to bring peace to ongoing foreign wars, Trump has worked to negotiate with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy within his first month in office. On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tapper asked Witkoff if he believes “it’s good that the Russians think that the Trump administration is in total alignment with the way that Putin sees things,” after playing a clip from Russian state media in which a Russian media host is seen agreeing with Trump’s sentiments about the war.

“I think we’ve had, Jake, by my estimation almost a million and a half deaths here. Finally, we have a leader that is President Trump who is determined to end the carnage. So the only way you’re going to end the carnage is if you have a relationship with the leaders of both countries that are involved,” Witkoff said.

Trump announced that negotiations to end the Ukraine-Russia war were underway, following a call with Putin about the ongoing issue and concerns over the death toll. In a post on Truth Social, Trump described his conversation with the Russian president, stating the two had “reflected” on both nations’ “great history” before agreeing they wanted to “stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.”

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