Free Republic

Kellogg Fired Over Leaking 28-Point Plan – Proposal Designed To Trap Putin It seems that Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, got fired over leaking news of the 28-point ‘peace plan’. Let’s follow the traces. On Tuesday the 18th November someone ‘leaked’ to Axios reporter Barak Ravid who then wrote the first story of Trump’s new plan for Ukraine. Scoop: U.S. secretly drafting new plan to end Ukraine war The plan’s 28 points fall into four general buckets, sources tell Axios: peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe, and future U.S. relations with Russia and Ukraine. … Trump’s...

Kirill Dmitriev — Vladmir Putin’s special envoy and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund — is suddenly ubiquitous. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been largely quiet since his maximalist negotiating approach with Team Trump failed. Moscow, presumably largely guided by Lavrov, after winning a concession on Tomahawk missiles, opted to continue Putin’s hardline demands for ending the war in Ukraine ahead of the proposed Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. NATO would have to admit that it was the root cause of the war. Kyiv would have to cede all of the Donbas, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine would...

Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet Ukraine’s allies at the Johannesburg G20 summit on Saturday to seek to “strengthen” a US-drafted plan to end the war with Russia. Washington reportedly pressed Kyiv to accept the agreement which would see the invaded country make major concessions including giving up territory and cutting the size of its army. Western nations are scrambling to respond to the proposals that appeared to catch them off guard. G7 leaders plus others from the G20 will discuss the deal on the sidelines of the South African meeting shunned by Donald Trump. The 28-point plan is...

US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet on Wednesday in Istanbul with a delegation of senior Hamas officials led by Khalil al-Hayya to discuss efforts to maintain the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel. It will be Witkoff’s second meeting with Hayya after the special envoy along with fellow top adviser to US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, met with senior members of Hamas’s ceasefire negotiating team hours before an agreement was inked in Egypt on October 9. That meeting was said to have been critical in bringing the deal across the finish line,...

A fascinating hour-long interview with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as they outline the backstory to the Israel-Hamas peace agreement in Gaza. During a segment (prompted below) Witkoff and Kushner are outlining the step-by-step process as they engaged the leaders of Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. Witkoff reveals how the CIA was briefing them both, multiple times a day, and the briefing itself was exactly the opposite of what Emir of Qatar and Presidents of Turkey and Egypt were telling them. The CIA intelligence was the exact opposite of reality. WATCH: [video at source] What they are describing is EXACTLY why...

Moved almost to tears, three of US President Donald Trump’s closest confidants stood together…on the stage at Hostages Square – a central Tel Aviv plaza that, since the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, has become the beating heart of weekly demonstrations calling for the release of Israelis still held captive in Gaza and, increasingly, for an end to the war. It was Witkoff’s third visit to Hostages Square in less than a year, and that compares with not a single visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or most of his ministers. The hostages’ families have described many times their connection...

A shocking poll shows that two years after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre that murdered more than 1,200 Israelis, a majority of Palestinians still say the terror group was right to launch the attack — and, equally disturbing, an overwhelming 86 percent deny that Hamas committed the well-documented atrocities against civilians. According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), 53 percent of Palestinians say Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7 assault was correct; support is strongest in the West Bank at 59 percent, while 44 percent in the Gaza Strip back the attack — a...

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis poured into Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Saturday night in what everyone present was hoping would be the final vigil on behalf of the hostages taken to Gaza two years ago. Some of the stars of the rally were three American Jews — Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump — who played a role in pushing negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the finish line. Witkoff was visibly emotional. “I dreamed of this night. It’s been a long journey. This is the most powerful sight,” Trump’s Middle East envoy told the crowd. “All of...

Trump convenes 8 Arab, Muslim leaders to present Gaza future planThe terror organization Hamas sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump proposing a two-month ceasefire in exchange for releasing half of the Israeli hostages it is still holding captive in Gaza, Fox News reported on Monday. Citing a senior Trump administration official and a source directly involved in the negotiations, the report stated that the letter is in Qatari hands and will be transmitted to Trump this week. Israel’s Channel 12 News reported that a Hamas leader might personally sign the letter before it is sent to Trump. The...

President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is set to meet in New York on Friday with senior members of the Ukrainian government, sources told Newsmax on Thursday. “Two sources familiar with the matter tell me, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to meet Ukrainian delegation - Andriy Yermak & Sergiy Kyslytsya - in New York tomorrow," Newsmax's Nana Sajaia first reported of the planned meeting on X. Andriy Yermak is the head of the Office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Sergiy Kyslytsia is Ukraine's deputy foreign minister and former envoy to the United Nations.

Hamas has apparently accepted the terms of a ceasefire deal similar to one that was proposed last month but never put in place. The deal would free some remaining hostages in exchange for more than 200 Palestinian prisoners.In a statement, Hamas said it had accepted the new proposal presented on Sunday by Qatar and Egypt.Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas’ political bureau, said on social media, “The movement has accepted the new proposal from the mediators. We pray that God extinguishes the fires of this war on our people.”Two Israeli officials told CNN that Israel had received the Hamas...

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to “robust” security guarantees, including “effectively” offering Ukraine Article Five-like protection, during their historic Friday meeting. “We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing,” Witkoff said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Witkoff explained that Russia agreed to allow the United States and other European countries to “effectively offer [Ukraine] Article Five-like language to cover a security guarantee,” referring to the provision of NATO that states an attack on one NATO member is seen as an...

The White House revealed on Friday the team that will accompany US President Donald Trump to the Alaska summit on Friday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Luntick, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe are among the top US officials who will join Trump for his highly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his delegation. Additionally, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, among others, are expected to travel with the US president...

US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met Saturday in Ibiza, Spain, with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani to discuss a plan for ending the war in exchange for the release of all hostages held by the Hamas terror group. According to the report, the developing proposal includes a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the release of all hostages, the disarmament of terrorist organizations, the expulsion of senior Hamas officials abroad, and the establishment of a professional government under the supervision of a police force. An Israeli official familiar with the deals of the...

A bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could happen as soon as next week, according to a White House official. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff returned from Moscow on Wednesday and relayed to President Trump that Putin would like to meet with him, the official said. In response, Trump indicated he is open to that if Putin also meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official added. Witkoff met with Putin for several hours on Wednesday ahead of the Friday deadline imposed by Trump for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or...

White House envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families on Saturday that President Trump wants to "shift" the Gaza policy from trying to get a partial and phased Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal to reaching a comprehensive deal that ends the war and returns all remaining hostages at once, according to a statement by the families and recordings from the meeting. Behind the scenes: Two members of the hostage families who were in the room said Witkoff listened for a long time to every family member who wanted to speak. "We never have these meetings with senior Israeli government officials," one...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his special envoy Steve Witkoff had made "great progress" in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions on Friday. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said he had briefed some European allies about Witkoff's meeting with Putin, which was focused on ending the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," Trump added, without providing further...

Russian President Vladimir Putin finished his meeting with United States Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin's press service said on Wednesday. The service did not reveal details of the meeting, which lasted around three hours. US President Donald Trump suggested that Witkoff's discussion with Putin will inform his decision on potential tariffs on countries buying Russian energy exports. Trump also set a deadline for agreeing on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which expires on Friday.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will be in Moscow on Wednesday to meet with Russian leadership, a source familiar with the plan said on Tuesday. Officials in Washington provided few details of Witkoff's schedule. "The president has noted, of course, that Special Envoy Witkoff will be traveling to Russia this week, so we can confirm that from this podium," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters. "What that will entail, I have no details for you." Russia's state-run TASS news agency, quoting aviation sources, said an aircraft believed to have Witkoff on board, had already left the United States.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not rule out on Monday the possibility of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Witkoff is supposed to travel to Russia sometime this week, with Peskov saying Moscow is "always happy" to host him and describing him as "important, meaningful and very useful." Commenting on US President Donald Trump's decision to deploy two nuclear submarines after a Russian official's "foolish and inflammatory statements," Peskov said that "there can be no winner in a nuclear war" and stressed that the Kremlin is "very attentive...